Graphically configuring program invocation relationships by creating or modifying links among program icons in a configuration diagram

ABSTRACT

A system and method for creating and using configuration diagrams for configuring distributed systems. The methods described herein may be used for various types of operations in configuring distributed systems, including creating programs, managing programs in the distributed system, deploying programs to various distributed devices, configuring remote execution or inter-operation of distributed programs, and executing distributed applications. Embodiments of the invention utilize graphical iconic-based techniques for performing the above operations. The configuration diagram may include device icons which represent devices and program icons which represent programs. Device icons and program icons may be associated with each other to accomplish various program creation and deployment operations. Device icons and program icons may also interact with graphical program nodes or icons. Context sensitive device connections and/or program connections are displayed. An asynchronous data flow node may be used to facilitate asynchronous data flow between two graphical programs. The distributed system may also support distributed graphical debugging.

PRIORITY CLAIM

[0001] This application claims benefit of priority of U.S. provisionalapplication Serial No. 60/312,242 titled “System and Method forGraphically Creating, Deploying and Executing Programs in a DistributedSystem” filed Aug. 14, 2001, whose inventors are Jeffrey L. Kodosky,Darshan Shah and Steven W. Rogers.

CONTINUATION DATA

[0002] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/113,987 titled “A Configuration Diagram WhichDisplays a Configuration of a System” filed on Apr. 1, 2002, whoseinventors are Jeffrey L. Kodosky, Darshan Shah and Steven W. Rogers,which claims benefit of priority of U.S. provisional application SerialNo. 60/312,242 titled “System and Method for Graphically Creating,Deploying and Executing Programs in a Distributed System” filed Aug. 14,2001, whose inventors are Jeffrey L. Kodosky, Darshan Shah and Steven W.Rogers.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention relates to the fields of system design anddistributed software programming and deployment, and more particularlyto a system and method for enabling a user to more easily specify orcreate distributed systems and/or applications utilizing a configurationdiagram. The present invention further relates to techniques forgraphically distributing or deploying programs among a plurality ofdifferent devices or nodes in a distributed system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

[0004] With the advent of networked computer systems, there has been atrend in computer software to provide more distributed softwareapplications. For example, in some fields developers are attempting todistribute software applications among two or more nodes or computersystems in a network, wherein the application may comprise a pluralityof different software programs executing in a plurality of differentcomputer systems.

[0005] Measurement and automation systems are moving toward computerbased systems wherein a computer system performs much of the processing,analysis, or control for measurement and automation applications.Measurement and automation systems are also moving toward network-basedor distributed systems, wherein a plurality of network-based devicesoperate together to perform a desired measurement and/or automationfunction. Various new intelligent devices are also starting to appear inmeasurement and automation systems, such as smart sensors, smartcameras, smart motion control devices, smart distributed dataacquisition devices, computer based instrument cards, PXI and VXIsystems which may include intelligent controllers or reconfigurabledevices, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), etc.

[0006] Computer-based measurement and automation systems which employintelligent devices have become increasingly desirable in view of theincreasing complexity of measurement and automation tasks, and thevariety of intelligent or programmable instruments and devices availablefor use. However, due to the wide variety of possible testing andcontrol situations and environments, and also the wide array ofinstruments or devices available, it is often necessary for a user todevelop custom programs to control a desired system.

[0007] Increasingly, computers are required to be used and programmed bythose who are not highly trained in computer programming techniques.This is particularly true in the measurement and automation fields,where engineers are often required to develop a test, measurement orautomation application to accomplish a certain objective. As a result,in many cases it is extremely difficult for a user to be able to createvarious computer programs and distribute these programs among devices ina distributed system.

[0008] Therefore, it would be desirable to be able to provide thecapability for a user or developer to easily create, distribute and/ordeploy applications among various components in a distributed system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] One embodiment of the present invention comprises a system andmethod for creating and using configuration diagrams for configuringsystems. The methods described herein may be used for various types ofoperations in configuring, managing and specifying systems and devices,including creating programs, managing programs in the system, deployingprograms to various distributed devices, configuring remote execution orinter-operation of distributed programs, and executing distributedapplications. Embodiments of the present invention may also be used fordevice configuration, data distribution among or between devices, systemand I/O configuration, data storage/management, and debugging andperformance analysis. Embodiments of the invention may utilize graphicaliconic-based techniques for performing the above operations.

[0010] In one embodiment, the user may create or assemble aconfiguration diagram on a computer system (e.g., the “main” computersystem) representing a system, e.g., a distributed system. Theconfiguration diagram may include device icons that represent devices inthe system. The device icons preferably have an appearance whichcorresponds to the device they represent. This allows the viewer toeasily view and consider what devices are present in the system. Thus,in a system which comprises two or more devices coupled to each other,such as through a network, a serial or parallel bus, or through wirelessmeans, etc., the configuration diagram may include a device icon foreach of the devices present in the system. The user may at leastpartially create or assemble the configuration diagram, or theconfiguration diagram may at least partially be automatically orprogrammatically created, or both.

[0011] One or more of the device icons may also store informationassociated with its respective device, such as information regarding I/Ochannels, data points, current configuration, calibration information,etc. The user may select a device icon to configure or view I/Ochannels, data points, and/or other information or elements associatedwith the device.

[0012] The configuration diagram may display connections between thedevice icons. The displayed connections may correspond to couplingsbetween the plurality of devices. In one embodiment, the displayedconnections between respective device icons have an appearance tovisually indicate a type of connection between the devices correspondingto the respective device icons. For example, the displayed connectionsmay have an appearance that varies according to one or more of color,size or shading to indicate the type of connection between the devices.The appearance of the respective connections may indicate whether theconnection is a network connection, internal bus connection, externalparallel bus connection, external serial bus connection (e.g., USB orIEEE 1394) or a wireless connection. For a measurement system, theappearance of the respective connections may indicate among GPIB, PXI,VXI, and other types of measurement bus types. The appearance of therespective connections may also, or instead, indicate the type of dataor material flow between devices. In another embodiment, theconfiguration diagram may include labels displayed proximate to theconnections to visually indicate types of connection. The displayedconnections or displayed information may also operate to indicatingcabling or connection requirements, or recommend cabling or connectiontypes between devices.

[0013] The configuration diagram may also display program iconscorresponding to programs present in the system, e.g., programs residingin the various devices or programs available for deployment to thevarious devices. The program icons may be displayed associated with orproximate to the respective device icons corresponding to the respectivedevices in which the programs reside. The user may also at leastpartially create one or more programs which perform a desired functionwithin the system. For example, the user can create a program (or selectan existing program), create a program icon for the program, ifnecessary, and iconically deploy the program icon to a device. Asdescribed below, the user may create or modify programs using theconfiguration diagram.

[0014] The program icons may be displayed with connections to visuallyindicate their relationship, such as their invocation (e.g.,caller/callee) relationship. Thus the configuration diagram may displayan iconic relationship view of the various programs present within thesystem. The iconic relationship view may comprise an object-orientedview, a hierarchy view, a tree view, a data flow view, an execution flowview, a control flow view, or combinations thereof. Thus, in the case ofa program which is configured as a hierarchy of a main program and oneor more sub-programs, the system may display a hierarchy view comprisingan icon representing the main program and an icon representing each ofthe one or more sub-programs, wherein the icons are arranged and/or areshown as being connected in the respective hierarchy. In the case of aplurality of software objects configured to invoke methods and triggerevents on each other, the system may display an object-oriented viewcomprising an icon representing each of the programs, and possiblyconnections indicating the method invocation and/or event messaging. Inthe case of a graphical program which is configured as a hierarchy of amain graphical program and one or more sub-graphical programs (e.g., amain VI and one or more sub-VIs), the system may display a hierarchyview comprising an icon representing the main graphical program, an iconrepresenting each of the one or more sub-graphical programs, andconnections between the program icons visually indicating the hierarchy.

[0015] The iconic relationship view of the various software programs maybe displayed in the configuration diagram, or may be displayed in aseparate window on the display. In one embodiment, the program icons aredisplayed in the configuration diagram proximate to (or connected to)the device icons of the devices in which they are stored. Connectionsare displayed between the various program icons to visually indicatetheir invocation relationship. As another example, the program icons maybe displayed in a separate window to avoid cluttering the configurationdiagram.

[0016] The configuration diagram may also display a GUI or palette ofprogram icons corresponding to programs that may be included in theuser's system. For example, the user of the main computer system mayaccess a server and view a palette of program icons, from which the usermay select program icons to include in his/her configuration diagram.

[0017] The configuration diagram may support various types of views,such as an entire system view, a subsystem view, a device view, aprogram view, etc. For example, the user can “drill down” in theconfiguration diagram to view a selected portion of the diagram, e.g., aselected subsystem of devices, a single device, the programs associatedwith a device, the data points associated with a device, the I/Ochannels associated with a device, etc.

[0018] In one embodiment, the configuration diagram may at least partlybe automatically or programmatically created by the computer systembased on an automatic detection of devices, programs, and/or otherelements resident in the system. For example, Plug & Play software orother detection software may detect devices present in the system, theirinterconnections or couplings, information associated with the variousdevices, and programs resident in the various devices, and automaticallydisplay a portion or all of a configuration diagram. For example, thecomputer system may perform an automatic detection and automaticallydisplay device icons corresponding to detected devices and connections(e.g., “connection icons” or “wires”) between respective device iconscorresponding to the couplings between devices automatically detected inthe system. The connections between device icons that are automaticallydisplayed may be displayed with an appearance indicating the type ofdetected connection. The detection software may also automaticallydetect programs present in the system and display corresponding programicons. In a similar manner, software may also detect the relationship(e.g., invocation relationship) among programs resident in the variousdevices in the system and automatically display connections between theprogram icons to visually indicate the determined relationship.Detection software may also detect other elements in the system (e.g.,data points, I/O channels) and display corresponding icons in theconfiguration diagram.

[0019] The configuration diagram may also be created at least partlybased on manual user input. For example, the user may manually drag anddrop device icons and/or program icons from a palette or menu to atleast partially create the configuration diagram. In one embodiment, theuser may manually connect device icons on the configuration diagram,such as by using a pointing device. For example, in creating ormodifying a configuration diagram, the user can associate, e.g., dragand drop, or otherwise connect, a first device icon to a second deviceicon. For example, the user may use a pointing device (e.g., a mouse),and may possibly use a “wiring tool” icon on the display, to connect afirst device icon to a second device icon. This may cause a connection,e.g., a wire, to appear between the device icons to indicate a couplingrelationship between the two (or more) device icons. The connection thatis displayed between two device icons may be context sensitive asdescribed above. In other words, the connection that is displayed orcreated on the display may have a context or appearance that isassociated with the types of devices that are being connected, the typeof physical connection between the respective devices, and/or the typeof data or material flow between the devices.

[0020] In one embodiment, the user may manually connect program icons onthe configuration diagram, such as by using a pointing device (and/or“wiring tool” icon), to specify an invocation (caller/callee)relationship among the programs. The user may also modify connectionsbetween program icons to modify the invocation relationship amongprograms. For example, the user can graphically modify (e.g., using apointing device) the connection displayed between a first program and asecond program so that the connection is displayed between the firstprogram and a third program. This graphical operation by the user mayoperate to change the invocation relationship between these programs(including changes to the programs themselves) so that the first programnow calls the third program instead of the second program. In otherwords, this graphical operation may also cause a modification oraddition of code in one or more of these programs to effect the changein invocation relationship.

[0021] In one embodiment, the configuration diagram (i.e., software) isoperable to perform type checking of connections between device icons.The configuration diagram may also be operable to perform type checkingof connections between program icons, e.g., to verify that a firstprogram corresponding to a first program icon can invoke (or be invokedby) a second program corresponding to a second program icon.

[0022] The user may perform various operations using the configurationdiagram.

[0023] In one embodiment, the user may operate to deploy programs todevices by graphically associating program icons with device icons. Forexample, the user may select various program icons, e.g., from therelationship view (within or outside the configuration diagram), or froma palette or other GUI, and associate them with various device icons (orother program icons) contained in the configuration diagram. Thisoperation of associating program icons with device icons (or otherprogram icons) in the configuration diagram may operate to deploy,either immediately or when the use selects “apply”, the respectiveprograms on the various devices which correspond to the device icons (orwithin a program relationship or hierarchy represented by the programicons). Deploying a program (e.g., graphically associating a programicon corresponding to a program residing in a first device with a deviceicon corresponding to a second device) may comprise: 1) moving theprogram from the first device to the second device (where the program isdeleted from the first device), 2) copying the program from the firstdevice to the second device (where the program remains stored on thefirst device), 3) transferring the program from the first device to thesecond device for remote execution on the second device, wherein theprogram on the second device is invoked for execution by a program onthe first device, and wherein at least one program on the first devicemay be configured or modified to invoke the program on the seconddevice; 4) transferring remote execution of the program from the firstdevice to the second device, wherein the program is originally to beremotely invoked on the first device, and after the operation theprogram is remotely invoked on the second device, wherein the remoteinvocation is performed by a program or application on a differentdevice (other than the first device or second device), such as the maincomputer system; or 5) creating a call or invocation in a program on thesecond device to invoke the program on the first device, wherein theprogram remains on the first device, and at least one program on thesecond device may be configured or modified to invoke the program on thefirst device. Various other deployment operations are also contemplated.

[0024] The operation of associating program icons with device icons (orother program icons) in the configuration diagram may operate to deploy,or cause to be deployed, the respective programs on the various deviceswhich correspond to the device icons. For example, if the user selects afirst program icon and associates (e.g., drags and drops) this firstprogram icon on to a first device icon which represents a first device,and the user optionally selects “apply”, this may operate to deploy afirst program corresponding to that first program icon on to the firstdevice which corresponds to that first device icon. This provides agreatly simplified mechanism for deploying programs on various devicesin a distributed system.

[0025] The graphical association or deployment performed by the user asdescribed herein is preferably graphically or visually performed andrepresented in the configuration diagram. Thus the configuration diagrammay be visually updated to reflect the actions performed by the user.Stated another way, the configuration diagram may be updated in realtime as the user performs iconic operations as described herein, such asthe deployment operations discussed above. Thus the configurationdiagram may display an updated iconic relationship view of the devicesand distributed programs as the user associates (e.g., drags and drops)the program icons on the device icons, the program icons on otherprogram icons, the device icons on other device icons, etc. For example,as the user drags and drops program icons (e.g., from the configurationdiagram) on to various device icons on the configuration diagram, thesystem may operate to update the displayed relationship (e.g.,hierarchy) of programs proximate to, e.g., underneath, the respectivedevice icon to where they have been deployed, modify the appearances oficons, etc.

[0026] In one embodiment, when the user associates program icons withvarious device icons contained in the configuration diagram, theconfiguration diagram is immediately updated accordingly, but thisoperation of associating does not operate to deploy programs at thattime. Rather, the user may be required to select an “apply” feature forthe deployment to actually occur. This allows the user to view variousconfiguration diagram options before a deployment actually occurs. Inanother embodiment, a preview window may be employed to allow the userto view proposed changes to a configuration diagram prior to the changebeing committed or applied.

[0027] In one embodiment, the user can graphically manipulate programicons to add or modify program code in the programs. For example, theuser can select a first program icon or node, which may be associatedwith (e.g., stored on) a device (e.g. a first device), and associatethis first program icon with (e.g., drag and drop onto) a second programicon of a second device (or of the first device). This may cause thecode (source code) of the second program to be displayed. Alternatively,the user may first cause the source code of the second program to bedisplayed, and then may drag and drop the program icon into thedisplayed source code. The user may then further graphically navigate,e.g., move or drag, the first program icon within the source code thathas been displayed and drop or place the first program icon at arespective location in the displayed source code. As a result, the firstprogram corresponding to the first program icon may be deployed withinthe second program, e.g., the second program may be automaticallymodified to include the first program. Alternatively, the second programmay be modified to invoke the first program. The first program may bedeployed to the second device for execution with the second program onthe second device. Alternatively, at the user's option, the firstprogram may remain on the first device, and the second program on thesecond device may be configured or modified to remotely invoke the firstprogram on the first device.

[0028] Where the second program icon corresponds to a graphical program,this association may cause the block diagram corresponding to thisprogram icon to automatically be displayed. In this instance, the usermay then further graphically navigate, e.g., move or drag, the firstprogram icon within the block diagram that has been displayed and dropor place the first program icon at a respective location in thegraphical program. This may cause the first program icon to be copied orinserted into the displayed block diagram at the selected location.Alternatively, a graphical program node may be displayed in the diagramwhich is associated with or operable to call the first program, and theuser may graphically position this node at a desired location in theblock diagram. The user may select a flow path, such as a data flowwire, in which to position or “drop” the first program icon (or node).As a result, the first program icon (or node) may be inserted on to orin the execution or data path of the selected wire in the block diagramof the graphical program and configured to execute. For example, wherethe first program is itself a graphical program, the first program iconmay be inserted as a sub-VI in the second graphical program or blockdiagram. Alternatively, the first program icon (or node) may appear orbe placed in a location of the block diagram, and the user may thenmanually connect or “wire up” the first program icon (or node) withother nodes in the block diagram.

[0029] The first program icon that is being dragged and dropped into theblock diagram may also be of a different type, such as a DLL or anexecutable program compiled from a text based programming language, etc.When the user drags and drops this first program icon into the blockdiagram corresponding to the destination program icon, and on to arespective dataflow path, the first program icon (or another node) maybe automatically created in the respective dataflow path that is able toinvoke or call this first program, or which may otherwise representexecution of the first program. For example, if the first program is aDLL, and the user drags the first program icon on to a data flow wire ofa block diagram, a node may be inserted into the block diagram that isconfigured to invoke the first program as a DLL. The node may have theappearance of the first program icon. Alternatively, the first programmay be programmatically converted into a graphical code format, e.g.,LabVIEW code.

[0030] Where the second program icon in this example corresponds to atextual programming language based program, this association of thefirst program icon with the second program icon may cause the textualsource code corresponding to the second program icon to automatically bedisplayed. The user may then further graphically navigate, e.g., move ordrag, the first program icon within the textual source code that hasbeen displayed and drop or place the first program icon at a respectivelocation in the textual source code. This may cause a call or invocation(e.g., a function call) to the first program to be copied or insertedinto the displayed textual source code of the second program at theselected location. In other words, textual source code may beautomatically added to the second program. The type of call insertedinto the displayed textual source code of the second program may dependon whether the first program is a graphical program or another type ofprogram. The first program corresponding to the first program icon maythen be deployed to the second device for execution with the blockdiagram on the second device. Alternatively, at the user's option, thefirst program may remain on the first device, and configured for remoteinvocation by the textual source code program (after compilation) on thesecond device.

[0031] In one embodiment, the user may associate (e.g., drag and drop) adevice icon into the source code of a program. For example, the user canselect a first device icon, which may correspond to a device andassociate this device icon with (e.g., drag and drop onto) a programicon. This may cause the code (source code) of the corresponding programto be displayed. Alternatively, the user may first cause the source codeof the program to be displayed, and then may drag and drop the deviceicon into the displayed source code. As a result, the device icon mayappear in the displayed source code. The user may then furthergraphically navigate, e.g., move or drag, the device icon within thesource code that has been displayed and drop or place the first deviceicon at a respective location in the source code. In response to thisoperation, e.g., placement of the device icon in the program sourcecode, additional program code may be included in the program thatperforms functionality associated with the device.

[0032] Where the program icon corresponds to a graphical program, thisassociation may cause the block diagram corresponding to this programicon to automatically be displayed. In this instance, the user may thenfurther graphically navigate, e.g., move or drag, the device icon withinthe block diagram that has been displayed and drop or place the deviceicon at a respective location in the graphical program. This may causethe device icon to be copied or inserted into the displayed blockdiagram at the selected location. Alternatively, a graphical programnode may be displayed in the diagram which is associated with oroperable to access or invoke functionality of the device, and the usermay position this node at a desired location in the block diagram. Theuser may select a flow path, such as a data flow wire, in which toposition or “drop” the device icon (or node). The device icon may thenbe inserted on to or in the execution or data path of the selected wirein the block diagram of the graphical program and configured to execute.The user may also manually connect or wire the device icon with othernodes in the diagram.

[0033] The user may optionally indicate an operation that is desiredwith respect to this device in the block diagram. In one embodiment, agraphical user interface (GUI) or configuration dialog may appearwherein the user can provide input indicating the desired operation. Forexample, the user may drag and drop a device icon of a first device intoa block diagram, and provide user input that indicates that the blockdiagram should create code and/or data structures, and/or should includea node icon in the diagram, which operates to programmatically accessthis device to publish and/or subscribe data to/from the device.

[0034] For example, the user may create a graphical program whichcommunicates with one or more measurement devices by dragging anddropping corresponding device icons into the graphical program diagram.As one example, the user may open a LabVIEW block diagram and create aWhile loop structure. The user may then drag and drop device iconscorresponding to sensors into the While loop structure. This may causethe graphical program diagram to be configured to access these sensorsand read data produced by these sensors.

[0035] In one embodiment, the user may graphically configure or deploy aprogram. The user may cause the computer system to display the sourcecode of a program. The program may be written in a text-basedprogramming language, or may be a graphical program. The computer systemdisplay may also include a configuration diagram that displays a firstdevice icon that corresponds to a first device. The user may then selecta portion of the source code of the program and graphically associatethe portion of the source code with the first device icon. Where theprogram is written in a text-based programming language, the user mayhighlight the desired source code portion (e.g., highlight the C codeportion, such as a subroutine) and drag and drop this code portion ontothe device icon. Where the program is written in a graphical programminglanguage, the user may select one or more nodes in the graphical programand drag and drop them on one or more device icons. This graphicalassociation may cause deployment of the source code portion onto thefirst device for execution on the first device. In addition, the systemmay modify the program to configure the program to invoke execution ofthe source code portion on the first device. Thus, when the programexecutes, the program invokes execution of the source code portion onthe first device.

[0036] As an example of the embodiment described above, the user cangraphically configure nodes in a graphical program for remote execution.For example, where the program is a graphical program, such as a LabVIEWVI, the system may display the block diagram of the graphical program.The user can select nodes in the graphical program and associate, e.g.,by drag and drop or menu selection techniques, these graphical programnodes with device icons (or program icons) in the configuration diagram.As a result, the functionality (program instructions and/or datastructures) of the node (or nodes) may be deployed to the selectedremote devices. A new icon may be displayed in the block diagram tovisually indicate to the user that this node is being remotely executed.The new icon may be a modified node icon which includes at least aportion of the appearance of the original node, as well as an additionalimage portion to indicate the remote execution. For example, the icon inthe block diagram may change its appearance to visually indicate to theuser that this node (the code represented by this node) is deployed on aremote device and will execute on the remote device. The deployment of asub-program of a graphical program block diagram on a remote device isparticularly useful where there are multiple instances of the samesub-program in the main graphical program, and the user desires toselect a particular sub-program for deployment.

[0037] This graphical association may involve determining if the deviceis capable of executing graphical programming code. If the device is notcapable of executing graphical programming code, the graphical programcode corresponding to this node may be automatically converted to a DLL,hardware configuration program, or other appropriate software format.

[0038] Therefore, as described above, where a program icon on theconfiguration diagram corresponds to a graphical program, the user mayperform various additional operations. As another example, if the userdesires to choose a specific location in the graphical program to have acall made to a remote device, this may be performed graphically withinthe graphical program. In other words, if the user desires to choose aparticular function node in the graphical program to make a call orinvoke a program on a remote device (e.g., different computer), this maybe easily performed using the block diagram of the graphical program andgraphical association techniques described herein. Additionally, asdescribed above, if the user desires to have one or more nodes orsubprograms in the graphical program execute on a remote device, thismay also be performed easily using the graphical association techniquesdescribed herein. The user may further incorporate device icons orprogram icons directly into a desired location in a graphical programusing the graphical association techniques described herein. Thisprovides a simple graphical mechanism for distributing functionality ofa graphical program among various devices in a system. The user cansimply drag and drop nodes in the graphical program on to various deviceicons to distribute the functionality represented by these nodes amongthe various devices.

[0039] The operation of associating icons with other icons (e.g.,associating program icons with device icons, program icons with otherprogram icons, device icons with program icons, etc.) in theconfiguration diagram may be performed with “drag and drop” techniques,menu-based techniques, dialog box techniques, speech recognitiontechniques, or other techniques.

[0040] In one embodiment, the user may be able to include anasynchronous data flow node or icon in two or more block diagrams orgraphical programs to allow distributed execution among the two or moreblock diagrams or graphical programs. An asynchronous data flow icon mayinclude two portions which are related to the same queue or memory. Oneportion of the asynchronous data flow icon may be a reader portion andthe other portion may be a writer portion. The user may distribute thereader and writer portions with different devices or different programs,e.g., using the association techniques described above. Thus, a writerportion of the asynchronous data flow node in a first block diagram mayoperate to write data to the queue, and a reader portion of theasynchronous data flow node (or a different asynchronous data flow node)in a second different block diagram may operate to read data from thisqueue. These reads and writes may occur asynchronously to each other.This allows a first block diagram to communicate data to a second blockdiagram, wherein the data may be communicated asynchronously withrespect to the second block diagram. This asynchronous data flow mayalso be configured for bi-directional communication, i.e., with readersand writers in both the first and second block diagrams or graphicalprograms. This asynchronous data flow may be particularly desirablebetween a computer system and a remote device.

[0041] In another embodiment, remote debugging of graphical programblock diagrams may be performed in a distributed system. For example,where a graphical program is deployed on a remote device, the user atthe main computer may be able to select the device icon and/or select arespective program icon associated with the device and view the blockdiagram of the graphical program. The user may thus be able to view theblock diagram on the display of the main computer system, wherein thisblock diagram is actually executing on a remote device. The user maythen be able to use various debugging tools that are useful with respectto block diagrams, such as break points, single stepping, and executionhighlighting.

[0042] The user thus may be able to use the displayed block diagram as agraphical user interface for debugging the block diagram executing onthe remote device. The user can single step through the block diagramexecuting on the remote device using the block diagram GUI displayed onthe main computer system display. Also, as a block diagram executes on aremote device, the user may be able to view the block diagram on themain computer system, wherein the respective nodes in the block diagramdisplayed on the main computer system are highlighted as these nodesexecute on the remote device. The user may also be able to view the dataoutput from each of the respective nodes on the block diagram displayedon the main computer system as the respective nodes produce dataexecuting on the remote device.

[0043] The user may use the configuration diagram to start execution ofthe programs contained in the devices. As the various programs execute,the configuration may be animated to visually indicate which programsand/or devices are executing. For example, the various program iconsand/or device icons may be highlighted to visually indicate whichprograms and/or devices, respectively, are executing.

[0044] The user may incorporate programs into the configuration diagramfrom any of various devices, including remote servers coupled to anetwork, such as the Internet. For example, in a measurementapplication, a server at National Instruments may store or host variousmeasurement applications or programs that can be used by any user, orregistered users. The user may choose to connect to a server and viewicons corresponding to the programs, applications, or projects presenton the server, and incorporate these program icons (or application orproject icons) into the configuration diagram using graphicalassociation techniques described herein. The programs used orrepresented in the configuration diagram may be any of various types,including software programs of various types, hardware configurationprograms, etc. The user may also select an entire configuration diagramfrom the server.

[0045] The user may use the configuration diagram as a mechanism forspecifying devices to be purchased from a vendor. For example, the usercan assemble a configuration diagram including device icons whichrepresent devices (and/or programs) that the user desires to use orpurchase for his/her system. The user may then connect to a servercomputer system and provide the configuration diagram as a specificationfor the devices and/or programs the user desires +to purchase. Theserver computer system, which may be located at a manufacturing site,may receive the configuration diagram, determine the desired devicesfrom the configuration diagram, and present information to the userindicating the total cost for the requested devices. The user may thenchoose to purchase one or more of the recommended devices from theserver computer system. These devices may then be shipped to the user.In another embodiment, the server may programmatically query the devicesand/or programs present in the user system, and generate a configurationdiagram that is displayed on the user's computer system representing thecurrent state of the user's system. The user may then add device iconsand/or program icons from a palette on the server or the client computerto indicate desired modifications to the user system. This updatedconfiguration diagram may then be provided back to the server as apurchase request as described above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0046] A better understanding of the present invention can be obtainedwhen the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment isconsidered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

[0047]FIG. 1 illustrates a network system comprising two or morecomputer systems that may implement an embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0048]FIG. 2A illustrates an instrumentation system according to oneembodiment of the invention;

[0049]FIG. 2B illustrates an industrial automation system according toone embodiment of the invention;

[0050] FIGS. 3 illustrates an exemplary distributed measurement systemaccording to one embodiment of the invention;

[0051]FIG. 4 is an exemplary block diagram of the computer systems ofthe preceding Figures;

[0052]FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary development environmentfor creating and using configuration diagrams;

[0053]FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram illustrating creating aconfiguration diagram and using the configuration diagram to graphicallyconfigure program deployment and/or invocation, e.g., deploy programs ondevices in the system;

[0054]FIG. 7 is a flowchart diagram illustrating creation of aconfiguration diagram according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0055]FIG. 8 is a flowchart diagram illustrating display of programicons or element icons corresponding to programs or elements comprisedin a device;

[0056]FIG. 9 is a flowchart diagram illustrating deploying a program onto a device according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0057]FIG. 10 is a flowchart diagram illustrating examining a programtype of a program and selectively converting the program to a typecompatible with the destination device;

[0058]FIG. 11 is a flowchart diagram illustrating various operationsthat may be performed when moving a program icon from source device iconto a destination device icon;

[0059]FIG. 12 is a flowchart diagram illustrating association of aprogram icon from a remote device to the main computer system toconfigure the main computer system to invoke the program;

[0060]FIG. 13A is a flowchart diagram illustrating various operationsthat may be performed on a program icon;

[0061]FIG. 13B is a flowchart diagram illustrating execution of anapplication;

[0062]FIG. 14 illustrates a configuration dialog which may be used increating a configuration diagram;

[0063] FIGS. 15-19 are screen shots illustrating graphical deployment orinvocation changes of programs in exemplary simple configurationdiagrams;

[0064]FIG. 20A illustrates selection of options on the configurationdiagram;

[0065]FIG. 20B illustrates selection of a “Remote Call” feature;

[0066]FIGS. 21A, 21B, and 21C illustrate exemplary configurationdiagrams for a measurement system;

[0067]FIG. 2 ID illustrates an alternative type of configurationdiagram;

[0068]FIG. 22 is a flowchart diagram illustrating creation of agraphical program;

[0069]FIG. 23 is a flowchart diagram illustrating configuration of anode in a graphical program for remote execution;

[0070]FIG. 24A illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a graphicalprogram where the user is configuring a remote call of a node;

[0071]FIG. 24B illustrates the exemplary block diagram of FIG. 24A afterthe user has deployed the node to a remote device for remote execution;

[0072]FIG. 25 is a flowchart diagram illustrating graphicallyincorporating a program icon from a remote device into another program;

[0073]FIG. 26 is a flowchart diagram illustrating creation of agraphical program which includes incorporation of device icons into thegraphical program;

[0074] FIGS. 27A-E are screen shots illustrating a sequence where theuser drags a device icon onto another configuration diagram, selects aparticular device icon in the configuration diagram, selects aparticular program icon, and inserts the device icon into the programrepresented by the program icon;

[0075]FIGS. 28A and 28B are screen shots illustrating incorporating aprogram icon from a configuration diagram into a graphical program;

[0076]FIG. 29 illustrates a simple configuration diagram where the userhas selected a device icon to configure the device;

[0077]FIG. 30 illustrates the configuration diagram of FIG. 30 where theuser has selected an option to view I/O channels and data points of adevice icon, and a context-sensitive help window is displayed;

[0078]FIG. 31 illustrates operation whereby a user drags and drops aprogram icon from a first device icon onto a second device icon;

[0079]FIG. 32 illustrates operation whereby a user selects a data pointelement from the configuration diagram and drags and drops the datapoint element from the configuration diagram on to the front panel of agraphical program;

[0080]FIG. 33A illustrates operation whereby a user selects a data pointelement from the configuration diagram and drags and drops the datapoint element from the configuration diagram on to the block diagram ofa graphical program;

[0081]FIG. 33B illustrates operation whereby a user “wires up” an iconrepresenting the data point element with other nodes or graphicalprogram elements in the block diagram;

[0082]FIG. 34 illustrates operation whereby a user selects a programicon to start operations;

[0083]FIG. 35 illustrates exemplary service icons that can be used tocontrol device execution; and

[0084]FIG. 36 illustrates operation whereby a user desires to copysettings from a device icon to another device icon.

[0085] While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should beunderstood, however, that the drawings and detailed description theretoare not intended to limit the invention to the particular formdisclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0086] Incorporation by Reference

[0087] The following references are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entirety as though fully and completely set forth herein:

[0088] U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,568 titled “Graphical System for Modeling aProcess and Associated Method,” issued on Apr. 3, 1990.

[0089] U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,741 titled “Method and Apparatus forProviding Attribute Nodes in a Graphical Data Flow Environment”.

[0090] U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,438 titled “Embedded Graphical ProgrammingSystem” filed Aug. 18, 1997.

[0091] U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,628 titled “System and Method for Configuringan Instrument to Perform Measurement Functions Utilizing Conversion ofGraphical Programs into Hardware Implementations,” filed Aug. 18, 1997.

[0092] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/617,600 titled “GraphicalProgramming System with Distributed Block Diagram Execution and FrontPanel Display,” filed Jun. 13, 2000.

[0093] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/745,023 titled “System andMethod for Programmatically Generating a Graphical Program in Responseto Program Information,” filed Dec. 20, 2000.

[0094] U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/312,242 titled“System and Method for Graphically Creating, Deploying and ExecutingPrograms in a Distributed System” filed Aug. 14, 2001.

[0095] The LabVIEW and BridgeVIEW graphical programming manuals,including the “G Programming Reference Manual”, available from NationalInstruments Corporation, are also hereby incorporated by reference intheir entirety.

[0096]FIG. 1—Computer Network

[0097]FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system including a first computersystem 82 that is coupled to a second computer system 90 over a network.The computer system 82 may be coupled through a network 84 (or acomputer bus) to the second computer system 90. The computer systems 82and 90 may each be any of various types, as desired. Also, the network84 can also be any of various types, including a LAN (local areanetwork), WAN (wide area network), the Internet, or an Intranet, amongothers.

[0098] The first and second computer systems 82 and 90 may comprisedevices that form at least a portion of a system, such as a distributedsystem. Alternatively, the computer system 82 may comprise part of thesystem, and the server computer system 90 may provide various servicesto the system, such as a selection of programs and/or devices for thesystem, or generation of a configuration diagram for the system asdescribed herein.

[0099] Additional computer systems (not shown) may also couple to thefirst and/or second computer systems 82 and 90. Various other devicesmay connect or couple to one or more of the computer systems 82 and 90,or to other computer systems in the system. For example, any one or moreof the devices shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B may couple to one or both of thecomputer systems 82 and 90. In addition, the system may comprise asingle computer system, such as computer system 82, coupled to one ormore other devices.

[0100] As used herein, the term “system” is intended to include a systemcomprising two or more interconnected or coupled devices, i.e., two ormore devices that are coupled together in some fashion. The two or moredevices may be coupled together via wired or wireless means. Wired meansmay include a network, such as a local area network (LAN) and/or a widearea network (WAN), such as the Internet, a computer bus, a serial orparallel bus, or other wired communication methods. Example local areanetworks include Ethernet networks, Token Ring networks, and variousindustrial communication networks such as Foundation Fieldbus,DeviceNet, and CAN (Controller Area Network) networks. Example parallelbuses include the PCI bus, PXI bus, GPIB, and VXI bus, among others.Example serial buses include USB (Universal Serial Bus), IEEE 1394,RS-242, and RS-485, among others. Wireless means may include wirelessprotocols such as IEEE 802.11 (wireless Ethernet), Bluetooth, and othertypes of wireless communication.

[0101] As used herein, the term “device” is intended to have itsordinary meaning as any of various types of devices, units orcomponents. The term “device” is intended to include “programmabledevices” and “non-programmable devices”.

[0102] As used herein, the term “programmable device” is intended toinclude any of various types of devices that include one or more of: 1)a processor and memory; or 2) a programmable hardware element orreconfigurable logic. Exemplary types of processors include aconventional microprocessor or CPU (such as an X86, PowerPC, SunSparc,etc.), a digital signal processor (DSP), microcontroller, or other typeof processor. Exemplary types of programmable hardware elements includea programmable logic device (PLD), e.g., an FPGA (field programmablegate array), or other types of reconfigurable logic. It is noted that aprogram may typically only be deployed to or stored on a programmabledevice. In the description that follows, references to devices in thecontext of deploying, storing, or modifying programs on the devicegenerally refer to programmable devices.

[0103] Exemplary types of programmable devices include computer systems;network devices; personal digital assistants (PDAs); television systems;measurement devices (including instruments, industrial automationdevices, process control devices, smart data acquisition devices, smartsensors (including smart cameras), smart actuators, video devices (e.g.,digital cameras, digital video cameras); audio devices; computerperipherals; telephones; appliances; or other processor-based orprogrammable hardware-based devices. Exemplary measurement andautomation devices include any of the devices shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.Exemplary network devices include network interface cards, routers,bridges, switches, hubs, etc.

[0104] The term “non-programmable device” is intended to include any ofvarious components, such as transducers, sensors, connector blocks,cabling, and other non-programmable devices.

[0105] As used herein, the term “computer system” may include any typeof computer system, including a personal computer system, mainframecomputer system, workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance,etc. In general, the term “computer system” can be broadly defined toencompass any device having at least one processor that executesinstructions from a memory medium.

[0106] As used herein, the term “application” includes one or moreprograms. An application may comprise a plurality of programs whichoperate together to perform a function or accomplish a certain result.The plurality of programs may operate together in a system, whereinvarious programs may be deployed to various devices in the system fordistributed execution. An application may thus comprise a plurality ofprograms distributed among a plurality of devices for distributedexecution. An application may also include other data structures such asconfiguration files for configuring hardware devices, help files,supporting documentation, etc. The term “project” may be used similarlyto an “application”.

[0107] As used herein, the term “program” is intended to include 1) asoftware program which may be stored in a memory and is executable by aprocessor or 2) a hardware configuration program useable for configuringa programmable hardware element or reconfigurable logic. A softwareprogram may be any type of code, script and/or data that may be storedin a memory medium and executed by a processor. Exemplary softwareprograms include programs written in text-based programming languages,such as C, C++, Pascal, Fortran, Cobol, Java, etc.; programs written inassembly language; programs written in graphical programming languages;programs that have been compiled to machine language; scripts; and othertypes of executable software. Exemplary hardware configuration programsinclude netlists or bit files for elements such as FPGAs and otherreconfigurable hardware.

[0108] As used herein, the term “graphical program” or “block diagram”is intended to include a program comprising graphical code, e.g., two ormore interconnected nodes or icons, wherein the interconnected nodes oricons may visually indicate the functionality of the program. The nodesmay be connected in one or more of a data flow, control flow, and/orexecution flow format. The nodes may also be connected in a “signalflow” format, which is a subset of data flow. Thus the terms “graphicalprogram” or “block diagram” are each intended to include a programcomprising a plurality of interconnected nodes or icons which visuallyindicate the functionality of the program.

[0109] A “data flow” graphical program or diagram refers to a pluralityof interconnected nodes or icons, wherein the interconnections among thenodes visually indicate that data produced by one node is used byanother node. A “data flow” graphical program or diagram may alsoinclude one or more control flow constructs or other non-data flowconstructs.

[0110] A graphical program may also optionally comprise a user interfaceor front panel. The user interface may be contained in the block diagramof the graphical program or may be contained in one or more separatepanels or windows (or both). The user interface of a graphical programmay include various graphical user interface elements or front panelobjects, such as user interface controls and/or indicators, thatrepresent or display the respective input and/or output that will beused by the graphical program or VI, and may include other icons whichrepresent devices being controlled. The user interface or front panelmay be comprised in a single window of user interface elements, or maycomprise a plurality of individual windows each having one or more userinterface elements, wherein the individual windows may optionally betiled together. As another example, the user interface or front panelmay comprise user interface or front panel objects, e.g., the GUI,embedded in the block diagram. The user interface of a graphical programmay display only output, only input, or both input and output. The term“front panel” refers to a user interface wherein the user is able tointeractively control or manipulate the input being provided to thegraphical program and view resulting output. Any of various types ofprograms may include a user interface or front panel, includinggraphical programs, text-based programs, etc.

[0111] Examples of graphical program development environments that maybe used to create graphical programs include LabVIEW, DasyLab, andDiaDem from National Instruments, VEE from Agilent, WiT from Coreco,Vision Program Manager from PPT Vision, SoftWIRE from MeasurementComputing, Simulink from the MathWorks, Sanscript from NorthwoodsSoftware, Khoros from Khoral Research, SnapMaster from HEM Data, VisSimfrom Visual Solutions, ObjectBench by SES (Scientific and EngineeringSoftware), and VisiDAQ from Advantech, among others. In the preferredembodiment, the system uses the LabVIEW graphical programming systemavailable from National Instruments.

[0112] A program for performing an instrumentation, measurement,automation or simulation function, such as measuring phenomena of a UnitUnder Test (UUT) or device, controlling or modeling instruments,controlling or measuring a system or process, or for modeling orsimulating devices, may be referred to as a virtual instrument (VI).

[0113] As shown in FIG. 1, at least one of the computer systems 82and/or 90 may be referred to as the “main” computer system, i.e., thecomputer system used by the user in creating, using and/or executing aconfiguration diagram. For example, computer system 82 may be referredto as the main computer system. Thus, the computer system 82 may includea display device operable to display a graphical user interface (GUI).The graphical user interface may comprise any type of graphical userinterface, e.g., depending on the computing platform. The GUI may beuseful in assembling, creating, using and/or executing a configurationdiagram as described herein. Multiple computer systems may also be usedin assembling a configuration diagram.

[0114] As described below, a configuration diagram may comprise one ormore device icons which each correspond to a device in the system. Aconfiguration diagram may also comprise one or more program icons whicheach correspond to a program in the system. A configuration diagram mayalso comprise one or more system icons and/or one or more applicationicons or project icons. A configuration diagram may comprise variousother icons, e.g., for I/O channels or data points of a device. Aconfiguration diagram may also display connections between icons, suchas physical connections between device icons and/or invocation orcaller/callee connections between program icons.

[0115] As described below, the configuration diagram may be useful inrepresenting the configuration of a system, e.g., for documentation orspecification purposes. The configuration design may also be useful indeploying programs among a plurality of devices in the system. Theconfiguration diagram may also be used in creating one or more programsand deploying these created programs in the system. The configurationdiagram may further be useful in displaying and/or executing anapplication comprising a plurality of programs distributed among aplurality of devices in a system. The configuration diagram may furtherbe useful in controlling device or program execution. The configurationdiagram may be used for other purposes as well. The display device mayalso be operable to display a graphical program block diagram of adeployed program, or other source code of a deployed program. Thedisplay device may also be operable to display a graphical userinterface or front panel of deployed programs, wherein the GUI or frontpanel of deployed programs may be selectively displayed using theconfiguration diagram.

[0116] The computer system 82 and/or 90 may include a memory medium(s)on which one or more computer programs or software components accordingto one embodiment of the present invention may be stored. For example,the memory medium may store one or more programs which are executable tocreate, present and/or allow use of a configuration diagram as describedherein. Also, the memory medium may store a programming developmentenvironment application used to create and/or execute programs. Forexample, the memory medium may store a graphical programming developmentenvironment application used to create and/or execute graphicalprograms, such as LabVIEW. The memory medium may also store variousprograms in the system. The memory medium may also store operatingsystem software, as well as other software for operation of the computersystem.

[0117] The term “memory medium” is intended to include an installationmedium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks 104, or tape device; a computersystem memory or random access memory such as DRAM, SRAM, EDO RAM,Rambus RAM, etc.; or a non-volatile memory such as a magnetic media,e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage. The memory medium may compriseother types of memory as well, or combinations thereof. In addition, thememory medium may be located in a first computer in which the programsare executed, or may be located in a second different computer whichconnects to the first computer over a network, such as the Internet. Inthe latter instance, the second computer may provide programinstructions to the first computer for execution.

[0118] The software programs which implement embodiments of the presentinvention may be stored in a memory medium of the respective computer82, or in a memory medium of another computer, and executed by the CPU.The CPU executing code and data from the memory medium thus may comprisea means for performing the methods described herein. For example, theCPU executing code and data from the memory medium may comprise a meansfor graphically specifying or creating a configuration diagram, creatingapplications or programs utilizing a configuration diagram and/orenabling a user to graphically distribute, deploy, configure and/orexecute programs among a plurality of different devices or nodes in asystem according to the description herein.

[0119] FIGS. 2A and 2B—Instrumentation and Industrial Automation Systems

[0120] The following describes embodiments of the present inventioninvolved with creating distributed applications which perform test,measurement and/or automation functions, including control and/ormodeling of instrumentation or industrial automation hardware. However,it is noted that the present invention can be used for a plethora ofapplications and is not limited to instrumentation or industrialautomation applications. In other words, the following description isexemplary only, and the present invention may be used in any of varioustypes of systems. Thus, the system and method of the present inventionis operable to be used in any of various types of applications,including distributed systems which include other types of devices suchas multimedia devices, video devices, audio devices, telephony devices,Internet devices, network devices, etc.

[0121]FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary instrumentation system 100 whichmay implement embodiments of the invention. The system 100 comprises ahost computer 82 which connects to one or more measurement devices orinstruments. The host computer 82 may comprise a CPU, a display screen,memory, and one or more input devices such as a mouse or keyboard asshown. Each of (or at least a subset of) the measurement devices mayinclude a processor and/or a programmable hardware element, and may becapable of receiving and executing programs in a distributedapplication. The computer 82 may couple to one or more other computers,such as computer 90, over a network, wherein the one or more othercomputers may form part of the distributed system. The computer 82 mayoperate with the one or more measurement devices to analyze, measure orcontrol a unit under test (UUT) or process 150 or to perform simulationof a system, such as hardware-in-the-loop simulation.

[0122] The one or more measurement devices or instruments may include aGPIB instrument 112 and associated GPIB interface card 122, a dataacquisition board 114 and associated signal conditioning circuitry 124,a VXI instrument 116, a PXI instrument 118, a video device or camera 132and associated image acquisition (or machine vision) card 134, a motioncontrol device 136 and associated motion control interface card 138,and/or one or more computer based instrument cards 142, among othertypes of devices.

[0123] The GPIB instrument 112 may be coupled to the computer 82 via theGPIB interface card 122 provided by the computer 82. In a similarmanner, the video device 132 may be coupled to the computer 82 via theimage acquisition card 134, and the motion control device 136 may becoupled to the computer 82 through the motion control interface card138. The data acquisition board 114 may be coupled to the computer 82,and may interface through signal conditioning circuitry 124 to the UUT.The signal conditioning circuitry 124 may comprise an SCXI (SignalConditioning extensions for Instrumentation) chassis comprising one ormore SCXI modules 126.

[0124] The GPIB card 122, the image acquisition card 134, the motioncontrol interface card 138, and the DAQ card 114 are typically pluggedin to an I/O slot in the computer 82, such as a PCI bus slot, a PC Cardslot, or an ISA, EISA or MicroChannel bus slot provided by the computer82. However, these cards 122, 134, 138 and 114 are shown external tocomputer 82 for illustrative purposes. These devices may also beconnected to the computer 82 through a serial bus or through othermeans.

[0125] The VXI chassis or instrument 116 may be coupled to the computer82 via a VXI bus, MXI bus, or other serial or parallel bus provided bythe computer 82. The computer 82 may include VXI interface logic, suchas a VXI, MXI or GPIB interface card (not shown), which interfaces tothe VXI chassis 116. The PXI chassis or instrument may be coupled to thecomputer 82 through the computer's PCI bus.

[0126] A serial instrument (not shown) may also be coupled to thecomputer 82 through a serial port, such as an RS-232 port, USB(Universal Serial bus) or IEEE 1394 or 1394.2 bus, provided by thecomputer 82. In typical instrumentation control systems an instrumentwill not be present of each interface type, and in fact many systems mayonly have one or more instruments of a single interface type, such asonly GPIB instruments.

[0127] The measurement devices or instruments may be coupled to a unitunder test (UUT) or process 150, or may be coupled to receive fieldsignals, typically generated by transducers. The system 100 may be usedin a data acquisition and control application, in a test and measurementapplication, an image processing or machine vision application, aprocess control application, a man-machine interface application, asimulation application, or a hardware-in-the-loop validationapplication.

[0128]FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary industrial automation system 160which may implement embodiments of the invention. The industrialautomation system 160 is similar to the instrumentation or test andmeasurement system 100 shown in FIG. 2A. Elements which are similar oridentical to elements in FIG. 2A have the same reference numerals forconvenience. The system 160 may comprise a computer 82 which connects toone or more devices or instruments. The computer 82 may comprise a CPU,a display screen, memory, and one or more input devices such as a mouseor keyboard as shown. Each of the devices shown in FIG. 2B may include aprocessor and/or a programmable hardware element, and may be capable ofreceiving and executing programs in a distributed application. Thecomputer 82 may couple to one or more other computers, such as computer90, over a network, wherein the one or more other computers may formpart of the distributed system. The computer 82 may operate with the oneor more devices to measure or control a process or device 150. Thedistributed system may perform an automation function, such as MMI (ManMachine Interface), SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition),portable or distributed data acquisition, process control, advancedanalysis, or other control.

[0129] The one or more devices may include a data acquisition board 114and associated signal conditioning circuitry 124, a PXI instrument 118,a video device 132 and associated image acquisition card 134, a motioncontrol device 136 and associated motion control interface card 138, afieldbus device 170 and associated fieldbus interface card 172, a PLC(Programmable Logic Controller) 176, a serial instrument 182 andassociated serial interface card 184, or a distributed data acquisitionsystem 185, such as the Fieldpoint system available from NationalInstruments, among other types of devices.

[0130] The DAQ card 114, the PXI chassis 118, the video device 132, andthe image acquisition card 134 may be connected to the computer 82 asdescribed above. The serial instrument 182 may be coupled to thecomputer 82 through a serial interface card 184, or through a serialport, such as an RS-232 port, provided by the computer 82. The PLC 176may couple to the computer 82 through a serial port, Ethernet port, or aproprietary interface. The fieldbus interface card 172 may be comprisedin the computer 82 and may interface through a fieldbus network to oneor more fieldbus devices. Each of the DAQ card 114, the serial card 184,the fieldbus card 172, the image acquisition card 134, and the motioncontrol card 138 are typically plugged in to an I/O slot in the computer82 as described above. However, these cards 114, 184, 172, 134, and 138are shown external to computer 82 for illustrative purposes. In typicalindustrial automation systems a device will not be present of eachinterface type, and in fact many systems may only have one or moredevices of a single interface type, such as only PLCs. The devices maybe coupled to the device or process 150.

[0131] As used herein, the term “measurement device” or “instrument” isintended to include any of the devices that are adapted to be connectedto a computer system as shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 3, traditional“stand-alone” instruments, as well as other types of measurement andcontrol devices. The term “measurement function” may include any type ofdata acquisition, measurement or control function, such as thatimplemented by the instruments shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 3. For example,the term “measurement function” includes acquisition and/or processingof an image. As described below, a distributed program (e.g., adistributed graphical program) may be created that implements ameasurement function. For example, the program may be used to acquire asignal and perform the measurement function on the acquired signal.

[0132] In the embodiments of FIGS. 2A and 2B above, one or more of thevarious instruments may couple to the computer 82 over a network, suchas the Internet. In one embodiment, the user operates to select one ormore target instruments or devices from a plurality of possible targetdevices for programming or configuration according to the methodsdescribed herein. Thus the user may create a program on a computer, suchas computer 82, and use the program in conjunction with one or moretarget devices or instruments that are remotely located from thecomputer 82 and coupled to the computer 82 through a network. Asdescribed below, according to one embodiment of the invention, the usermay use a configuration diagram to graphically create and distribute ordeploy programs among a number of different devices in a distributedsystem. The configuration diagram may also be used to initiate executionof the programs, and optionally to control and/or monitor execution ofthe programs.

[0133] Software programs which perform data acquisition, analysis and/orpresentation, e.g., for measurement, instrumentation control, industrialautomation, or simulation, such as in the applications shown in FIGS. 2Aand 2B, may be referred to as virtual instruments.

[0134] Although in the preferred embodiment the methods described hereinare involved with measurement and automation applications, includingdata acquisition/generation, analysis, and/or display, and forcontrolling or modeling instrumentation or industrial automationhardware, as noted above the present invention can be used for aplethora of applications and is not limited to measurement,instrumentation or industrial automation applications. In other words,FIGS. 2A and 2B are exemplary only, and the present invention may beused in any of various types of systems. Thus, the system and method isoperable for creating and using configuration diagrams for deployingprograms in distributed systems for any of various types ofapplications.

[0135] Network System

[0136] As one example, embodiments of the invention may be used tocreate, configure, deploy and/or execute programs for network systems.Exemplary network systems may include a main computer system thatcouples to one or more network devices, such as switches, bridges,routers, hubs, network processors, etc. A configuration diagram for anetwork system may include device icons that represent the variousnetwork devices, as well as program icons that represent programs in thesystem. Programs may be created, configured and/or deployed among thenetwork devices, (including having their invocation relationshipschanged) using the configuration diagram and the methods describedherein.

[0137]FIG. 3—Distributed Measurement System

[0138]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary distributed measurementsystem. As shown, an exemplary measurement system may include a computersystem 82 having a display. The computer system 82 may couple throughone or more networks or buses to various measurement devices.

[0139] In this exemplary embodiment, the computer 82 may couple throughthe Internet to a second computer 90 and to a database 92. The computer82 may couple to a PCI/PXI chassis 118 comprising one or more DAQ cards,which in turn couple to one or more Plug & Play analog sensors 123 orother sensors 127. The computer 82 may couple to a distributed I/Osystem (or distributed data acquisition system) 185, such as theFieldpoint system available from National Instruments, which in turncouples to one or more Plug & Play analog sensors 123 or other sensors127. The computer 82 may couple to a PCI/PXI chassis 118 comprising oneor more industrial network cards, such as a CAN interface card 173 and aserial interface card 184, which in turn may couple to one or morenetworked smart sensors 125. The computer 82 may couple to a PXI system118 and/or distributed I/O system 185, which in turn couples to one ormore DAQ modules 115 connected in a wired manner, such as through aserial, parallel, or network bus. The DAQ modules 115 may couple to oneor more Plug & Play analog sensors 123, smart sensors 125, or othersensors 127. The PXI system 118 and/or distributed I/O system 185 mayalso couple to one or more wireless DAQ modules 117 connected in awireless manner. The wireless DAQ module 117 may couple to one or morePlug & Play analog sensors 123 and/or other sensors 127.

[0140] The exemplary distributed measurement system may include a RIO(Reconfigurable I/O) system as described in U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Serial No. 60/312,242 titled “System and Method forGraphically Creating, Deploying and Executing Programs in a DistributedSystem” filed Aug. 14, 2001.

[0141] The computer system 82 may serve as the central console (or maincomputer system) of the distributed measurement system. The display ofthe computer system 82 may be used to assemble a configuration diagramof the distributed measurement system. The configuration diagram mayinclude various device icons that represent or correspond to the variousphysical (“real”) devices, and possibly virtual or simulated devices,that are present in the distributed measurement system. Theconfiguration diagram shown on the display may also be used to create,configure and/or deploy programs to any of the various devices in thedistributed measurement system.

[0142] The main computer system 82 may be part of the system thatexecutes programs during operation of the system. Alternatively, themain computer system 82 may be used solely to create a configurationdiagram and dispatch, configure or deploy programs to the variousdevices. In this latter embodiment, after deployment, the variousprograms may execute without further involvement of the main computersystem 82.

[0143] In one embodiment, the configuration diagram for the system shownin FIG. 3 would resemble, e.g., be similar or identical in appearanceto, the block diagram shown in FIG. 3. Thus, for the physical systemrepresented by the block diagram in FIG. 3, the configuration diagramfor this system that is displayed on a computer display may also havethe appearance of FIG. 3. Thus one goal of the configuration diagram fora system is to represent in an intuitive manner the system that theconfiguration diagram represents. Other examples of configurationdiagrams are shown in FIGS. 21A, 21B, and 21C. Simple configurationdiagrams used to illustrate graphical deployment of programs are shownin FIGS. 15-20. FIGS. 21A, 21B and 21C illustrate more complexconfiguration diagrams. FIG. 21D illustrates an alternative type ofconfiguration diagram (here the device icons are simply shown ascircles) that shows a flow of temperature and pressure values.

[0144]FIG. 4—Computer System Block Diagram

[0145]FIG. 4 is a block diagram representing one embodiment of thecomputer system 82 and/or 90 illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2A, 2B or 3. It isnoted that any type of computer system configuration or architecture canbe used as desired, and FIG. 4 illustrates a representative PCembodiment. It is also noted that the computer system may be a generalpurpose computer system, a computer implemented on a VXI card installedin a VXI chassis, a computer implemented on a PXI card installed in aPXI chassis, or other types of embodiments. Elements of a computer notnecessary to understand the present description have been omitted forsimplicity.

[0146] The computer may include at least one central processing unit orCPU 160 which is coupled to a processor or host bus 162. The CPU 160 maybe any of various types, including an x86 processor, e.g., a Pentiumclass, a PowerPC processor, a CPU from the SPARC family of RISCprocessors, as well as others. Main memory 166 is coupled to the hostbus 162 by means of memory controller 164. The main memory 166 may storeone or more programs which implement an embodiment of the invention, andmay also store one or more programs which may deployed to devices in adistributed system according to an embodiment of the invention. The mainmemory may also store a program development environment, operatingsystem software, as well as other software for operation of the computersystem.

[0147] The host bus 162 may be coupled to an expansion or input/outputbus 170 by means of a bus controller 168 or bus bridge logic. Theexpansion bus 170 may be the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)expansion bus, although other bus types can be used. The computer 82comprises a video display subsystem 180, hard drive 182, and networkinterface 181, coupled to the expansion bus 170. The expansion bus 170may also include various exemplary devices such as a data acquisitionboard 114 and a reconfigurable measurement device or instrument 190.Each of the data acquisition card 114 and the reconfigurable measurementdevice or instrument 190 may include a processor and memory and/or aprogrammable hardware element for receiving and executing deployedprograms.

[0148]FIG. 5—System for Creating and Using Configuration Diagrams

[0149]FIG. 5 illustrates the software programs of an exemplary systemfor creating and using configuration diagrams according to an embodimentof the invention. FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary system which includesthe distributed LabVIEW integrated development environment (IDE). Thesystem shown in FIG. 5 may be used for managing a distributed system asdescribed herein.

[0150] As shown, the system includes a graphical program editor orgraphical program development environment, e.g., a LabVIEW editor 704.The system also may include one or more graphical programs, e.g., mayinclude a block diagram and/or front panel 706 of a graphical program.The block diagram and front panel may be created in any of variousgraphical program development environments.

[0151] The system may also include a system editor 732. The systemeditor may be used for creating a configuration diagram 712, alsoreferred to as a system panel. In the present application, the terms“system panel” and configuration diagram” are used interchangeably. Theconfiguration diagram 712 may include a plurality of nodes or icons 714which represent items 718in a system, such as devices, machines,programs, applications, projects or other elements in the configurationdiagram 712. The configuration diagram 712 may also illustrate therelationship between nodes using connections or links 716 as describedherein.

[0152] The systems editor 732 may also include configuration panels 734,which are similar to property pages. The configuration panels 734 mayinclude system configuration panels 736 for configuring different systemconfiguration items such as network parameters 738, e.g., IP, security,etc 740. The configuration panels 734 may also include input/outputconfiguration panels 742 for configuring I/O points. The configurationpanels may also include the ability for configuring data points (e.g.,tags) 744 including methods, properties and panels 746. Theconfiguration panels 734 may also include service configuration panels750 for configuring various services, as described below.

[0153] The system described in FIG. 5 may be used for a plurality ofdifferent purposes. The system may be used to represent a system, deployprograms in the system, distribute data among devices or programs in thesystem, and perform various other functions. The system may providevarious levels of views. For example, the system configuration diagrammay present a view of the entire system, i.e., an entire system view; anindividual system view, i.e., a view of individual system within theentire system; an application view, i.e., a view of the various programsor software applications present in the system; and a programdevelopment view, such as a view of a program development environment,such as LabVIEW, Visual Basic, etc. In one embodiment, the systemincludes tight integration with a graphical program developmentenvironment such as LabVIEW. The configuration diagram may alsorepresent the system in a hierarchical manner, and the user may be ableto “drill down” in the configuration diagram to view greater detail onvarious subsystems or devices.

[0154] Flowcharts

[0155] The flowcharts described herein illustrate various embodiments ofthe present invention, and various other embodiments are alsocontemplated. It is noted that various steps in the flowcharts describedherein may occur concurrently or in different orders than that shown.Further, some steps are optional and may be omitted, and/or additionalsteps not shown may be added, as desired. In general, where the contextso indicates, steps performed in the flowcharts below may be performedautomatically or programmatically, i.e., by a software program, and notby manual user action.

[0156]FIG. 6—Flowchart

[0157]FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram illustrating operation of the usercreating or assembling a configuration diagram representing adistributed system, displaying program icons corresponding to programspresent in the distributed system, and configuring or deploying one ormore programs to various devices in the distributed system. FIG. 6illustrates one embodiment of the invention, and it is noted thatvarious embodiments of the invention may be used to create, view and useconfiguration diagrams using the concepts or methods described herein.

[0158] As shown, in step 202 a developer or user may assemble or createa configuration diagram which includes device icons that representdevices in the distributed system. Thus, in a system which comprises twoor more devices coupled to each other, such as through a network, aserial or parallel bus, or through wireless means, etc., the user maycreate or assemble a configuration diagram which includes a device iconfor each of the devices, or a subset of the devices, present in thesystem. The configuration diagram may also include program iconscorresponding to programs resident in the system, e.g., in the variousdevices.

[0159] In one embodiment, the user may manually select device icons froma graphical user interface, e.g., from a palette or menu, to bedisplayed in the configuration diagram. The user may also connect thedevice icons on the configuration diagram, such as by using a pointingdevice. For example, in creating or modifying a configuration diagram,the user can associate, e.g., drag and drop, or otherwise connect, afirst device icon to a second device icon. For example, the user may usea pointing device (e.g., a mouse), and may possibly use a “wiring tool”icon on the display, to connect a first device icon to a second deviceicon. This may cause a connection, e.g., a wire, to appear between thedevice icons to indicate a relationship or coupling between the two (ormore) device icons.

[0160] In one embodiment, the configuration diagram may be automaticallyor programmatically created by the computer system 82, or by separateserver system 90, based on an automatic detection of devices coupled tothe computer system 82. As used herein, the terms “programmatically” or“automatically” mean that the particular function is performed bysoftware, as opposed to being performed manually by the user. Forexample, Plug & Play software, or other similar detection software, maydetect devices present in the system and automatically display deviceicons in the configuration diagram representing these detected devices.The software may also automatically display connections or links betweenthe device icons which indicate the detected buses or interfacesconnecting the devices. In another embodiment, at least a portion of theconfiguration diagram may be automatically or programmatically created,and a portion of the configuration diagram may be created at leastpartly based on manual user input. For example, software may detect anddisplay device icons and links corresponding to a subset of the devicesin the system, and the user may select (and “wire up” or connect) deviceicons corresponding to other (e.g., non-detected or virtual) devicesfrom a palette or menu.

[0161] The device icons preferably have an appearance which correspondsto the device they represent. This allows the viewer to easily view andunderstand what devices are present in the distributed system. In oneembodiment, information may be displayed proximate to various deviceicons to indicate information about the device, such as type of device,geographic location of the device, calibration information, etc. Thisinformation may be selectively displayed when the user selects (e.g.,right clicks) a respective device icon.

[0162] The connection that is displayed between two device icons may becontext sensitive. In other words, the connection that is displayed orcreated on the display may have a context or appearance that isassociated with the types of devices that are being connected, or thatis associated with the type of physical connection between therespective devices. For example, the PCI bus may be shown with a firsttype of visual representation, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connectionmay be shown with a second type of visual representation, and anEthernet connection may be shown with a third type of visualrepresentation. FIG. 21C shows an exemplary configuration diagram withcontext sensitive connectivity. Alternatively, or in addition, theconnection that is displayed or created on the display may have acontext or appearance that is associated with the data type of the data,or type of material, being transmitted between the devices.

[0163] In one embodiment, Plug & Play software or other similardetection software may detect programs present in the system andautomatically or programmatically display program icons in theconfiguration diagram representing these detected programs. The softwaremay also automatically display connections or links between the programicons which indicate the detected invocation relationships of theprograms. In another embodiment, respective portions of theconfiguration diagram may be automatically or programmatically created,and a portion of the configuration diagram may be created at leastpartly based on manual user input. For example, software may detect anddisplay program icons and links corresponding to a subset of theprograms in the system, and the user may use a GUI to register otherprograms present in the system. The program icons may be displayeddirectly in the configuration diagram, e.g., proximate to the devices inwhich they reside. Alternatively, the program icons may initially appearon a separate palette or window, e.g., for deployment to the variousdevices. The user may manually “connect” or “wire up” links betweenvarious program icons to establish or modify invocation relationshipsamong the programs as described further below.

[0164] In one embodiment, the configuration diagram is operable toperform type checking of connections between device icons, e.g., toverify that a first device corresponding to a first device icon caninterface to a second device corresponding to a second device icon. Forexample, when the user draws a link between a first device icon and asecond device icon, software may analyze the interface types of the twodevices to ensure that the connection is proper. The configurationdiagram may also be operable to perform type checking of connectionsbetween program icons, e.g., to verify that a first programcorresponding to a first program icon can invoke (or be invoked by) asecond program corresponding to a second program icon. For example, whenthe user draws a link between a first program icon and a second programicon, software may analyze the program types of the two programs toensure that the invocation can be performed.

[0165] In addition, program icons may also have an appearance toindicate the type of program, e.g., graphical program, text-basedprogram, hardware configuration program, etc. Also, the connection thatis displayed between two program icons may be context sensitive. Forexample, the connection between two program icons may have a context orappearance that is associated with the type of connection between theprograms, e.g., caller/callee and direction (e.g., using an arrow),event passing, etc.

[0166] The configuration diagram may be used to define all of thedesired system components, including measurement phenomena, transducers,connector blocks, cabling, measurement hardware, and program components.The configuration diagram may also be used to enable distributedmanagement of the system components, including distributed definition ofcomponents, discovery of local and remote components that are presentand virtual, web service based interaction, etc.

[0167] In one embodiment, the user may assemble a configuration diagramthat represents a system that the user desires. Thus, the user mayselect among device icons in a palette and generate a configurationdiagram representing a desired system. In this embodiment, theconfiguration diagram is a specification of a desired system. Aconfiguration diagram may also include a first portion that representsan actual system (one or more physically present devices) and a secondportion that represents a desired system (one or more non-presentdevices).

[0168] In one embodiment, the user may use the configuration diagram asa mechanism for specifying devices to be purchased from a vendor. Forexample, the user can assemble a configuration diagram including deviceicons (and/or program icons) which represent devices (and/or programs)that the user desires to use or purchase for his/her system. The usermay then connect to a server computer system and provide theconfiguration diagram as a specification for the devices and/or programsthe user desires to purchase. The server computer system, which may belocated at a manufacturing site, may receive the configuration diagram,determine the desired devices (and/or programs) from the configurationdiagram, and present information to the user indicating the total costfor the requested devices (and/or programs). The user may then choose topurchase one or more of the recommended devices (and/or programs) fromthe server computer system. These devices may then be shipped to theuser. In another embodiment, the server may programmatically query thedevices and/or programs present in the user system, and generate aconfiguration diagram that is displayed on the user's computer systemrepresenting the current state of the user's system. The user may thenadd device icons and/or program icons from a palette on the server orthe client computer to indicate desired modifications to the usersystem. This updated configuration diagram may then be provided back tothe server as a purchase request as described above.

[0169] In step 204 the user may create one or more programs whichperform a desired function within the distributed system. Alternatively,or in addition, one or more programs may be automatically orprogrammatically created (created by a software program), based on userinput or requirements. For example, the computer system may display agraphical user interface which is used by the user to enter requirementsor desired operation of a program. The system may then programmaticallycreate a program based on these requirements. This programmatic creationof programs may be performed by the user's computer system 82 or aseparate server computer system 90.

[0170] The user (or computer system) may create one or more text-basedprograms in text-based programming languages such as C, C++, Fortran,Basic, Cobol, Java, etc. Software programs may be created or used whichare software objects or software components such as C++ objects, ActiveXcontrols, Java objects, etc. The user may also create one or moregraphical programs in various graphical programming developmentenvironments. In the preferred embodiment, the computer system includesthe LabVIEW graphical programming development system for creatingLabVIEW programs. As described below, the user may create and/or modifyprograms using the configuration diagram. This operation is discussedwith respect to FIGS. 26, 27, 32 and 33.

[0171] Alternatively, the user may simply use one or more pre-existingprograms that have been previously created. The user may use programsstored on the computer system 82 or stored on any of the various remotedevices. In addition, where the computer system 82 is coupled to anetwork, such as the Internet, the user may use programs stored on aserver (e.g., server 90) coupled to the network.

[0172] For example, in a measurement application, a server at NationalInstruments may store or host various measurement applications orprograms that can be used by any user, or registered users. The user maychoose to connect to a server and view icons corresponding to theprograms, applications, or projects present on the server, andincorporate these program icons (or application or project icons) intothe configuration diagram using graphical association techniquesdescribed herein. The user may purchase a program by dragging anddropping a program icon from a palette displayed by the server 90 ontothe user's configuration diagram. The user may be required to submitpayment to purchase programs from a third party server. As describedabove, the user may also choose to connect to a server for programmaticgeneration of programs.

[0173] The user may also create one or more programs which perform adesired function within the distributed system using the configurationdiagram. For example, the user may create a graphical program whichcommunicates with one or more measurement devices by dragging anddropping corresponding device icons into the graphical program diagram(or user interface). As one example, the user may open a LabVIEW blockdiagram and create a While loop structure. The user may then drag anddrop device icons corresponding to sensors into the While loopstructure. This may cause the graphical program diagram to be configuredto access these sensors and read data produced by these sensors. Thisoperation is described with respect to FIGS. 26 and 27A-E. The user mayalso drag and drop icons representing data points or I/O channels intothe graphical program diagram (or user interface) to configure thegraphical program to access (read or write) these data points or I/Ochannels. Programs may also be created and/or modified in response toother actions performed by the user, as described herein.

[0174] In step 206 the system may display an iconic relationship view ofthe various programs, e.g., graphical programs, present within thesystem. The iconic relationship view may comprise icons (“programicons”) representing various programs, wherein the program icons may bearranged and/or interconnected with links to indicate theirrelationship. The program icons may be arranged proximate to, and/orconnected by a link to, the respective device icons corresponding to thedevices in which the programs are stored. This may visually indicatewhich programs are stored on which devices. Alternatively, the iconicrelationship view of the various programs may be displayed separatelywithout the device icons. The iconic relationship view may comprise anobject-oriented view, a hierarchy view, a tree view, a data flow view,an execution flow view, a control flow view, or combinations thereof.

[0175] Thus, in the case of a program which is configured as a hierarchyof a main program and one or more sub-programs, the system may display ahierarchy view comprising an icon representing the main program and anicon representing each of the one or more sub-programs. The relationshipview may also display connections or links between the program icons. Inthe hierarchy view, the program icons are arranged and are preferablyconnected to visually indicate the hierarchy. In the case of a pluralityof software objects configured to invoke methods and trigger events oneach other, the system may display an object-oriented view comprising anicon representing each of the programs, and possibly connectionsindicating the method invocation and/or event messaging. In the case ofa graphical program which is configured as a hierarchy of a maingraphical program and one or more sub-graphical programs (e.g., a mainVI and one or more sub-VIs), the system may display a hierarchy viewcomprising an icon representing each of the main graphical program, anicon representing each of the one or more sub-graphical programs, andconnections between the program icons to visually indicate thehierarchy. An example of a hierarchy view of graphical programs is shownin FIGS. 15-20 and 21B. This allows the viewer to easily view theprograms present in the system which may be used in configuring thedistributed system. In another embodiment, the program icons resident ina device may simply be displayed, without any type of relationship view.

[0176] The iconic relationship view of the various software programs maybe displayed in a separate window on the display, or may be displayed inthe configuration diagram. For example, where most or all of theprograms are initially comprised in the main computer system 82, theprogram icons may be displayed in the configuration diagram proximate tothe device icon (or shown connected to the device icon) corresponding tothe main computer system 82, or in a separate window to avoid clutteringthe configuration diagram. In one embodiment, the user can selectvarious views of the configuration diagram, as described herein.

[0177] In step 206 the system may also display an iconic relationshipview of the various devices present within the system. For example, theuser may choose a menu option, such as shown in FIG. 18, to display thecaller/callee relationships between different devices present in thedistributed system.

[0178] In step 208 the user may graphically configure program deploymentand/or invocation using the configuration diagram. The user maygraphically configure program deployment and/or invocation by providinggraphical user input to the configuration diagram to associate (e.g.,drag and drop), icons with other icons, change connections betweenicons, etc.

[0179] For example, in one embodiment the user may select variousprogram icons, e.g., graphical program icons, from the relationship view(within or outside the configuration diagram) and associate (e.g., dragand drop) them with various device icons contained in the configurationdiagram. The user may also select a program icon and associate theprogram icon with another program icon in the configuration diagram.This may cause a deployment of a program to another device, or mayconfigure a program invocation relationship (caller/callee relationship)between programs, or may cause another type of operation. For example,the operation of associating program icons with device icons (or otherprogram icons) in the configuration diagram may operate to deploy,either immediately or when the use selects “apply”, the respectiveprograms on the various devices which correspond to the device icons.

[0180] Deploying a program may comprise: 1) moving the program from afirst device to a second device (where the program is deleted from thefirst device), 2) copying the program from a first device to a seconddevice (where the program remains stored on the first device), 3)transferring or moving the program from a first device to a seconddevice for remote execution on the second device, wherein the programmoved to the second device is invoked for execution by a program on thefirst device, and wherein at least one program on the first device maybe configured or modified to invoke the moved program on the seconddevice; 4) transferring remote execution of the program from a firstdevice to a second device, wherein the program is originally to beremotely invoked on the first device, and after the operation theprogram is remotely invoked on the second device, wherein the remoteinvocation is performed by a program or application on a differentdevice, such as the main computer system (FIG. 11); or 5) creating acall or invocation in a program on the second device to invoke theprogram on the first device, wherein the program remains on the firstdevice, and at least one program on the second device may be configuredor modified to invoke the program on the first device (FIG. 12). Furtherdetails of the deployment of programs on various devices is describedwith respect to the flowcharts of FIGS. 9-12 and the screen shots ofFIGS. 15-20. Various other deployment operations are also contemplated.

[0181] As another example, in one embodiment the user may draw a link orconnection between two program icons to configure an invocationrelationship between the program icons. For example, the user mayposition a pointing device at a first program icon and draw a link fromthe first program icon to a second program icon. The displayed link mayinclude an arrow or other graphical means to indicate the direction ofthe invocation, i.e., that the first program icon is invoking the secondprogram icon, and not vice versa. This operation of drawing the linkbetween the first and second program icons may operate to modify thefirst program represented by the first program icon to invoke the secondprogram represented by the second program icon. In one embodiment, thesource code of the first program may be displayed, or a GUI may bedisplayed, so that the user can more precisely configure where and howthe first program invokes the second program.

[0182] The user may also select an existing link or connection displayedbetween two program icons and may associate (e.g., graphically modify ordrag and drop) the end of one link to a different program icon to changean invocation relationship among the programs. For example, theconfiguration diagram may initially display a link connecting a firstprogram icon with a second program icon, indicating that a first programrepresented by the first program icon invokes a second programrepresented by the second program icon. The user can select the end ofthe link proximate to the second program icon and graphically move ordrag this end of the link to a third program icon to configure the firstprogram to invoke a third program represented by the third program icon.

[0183] As another example, the user may select a device icon, or an iconrepresenting a data point or I/O channel, and associate (e.g., drag anddrop) the device icon with a program icon in the configuration diagram.This may be used in creating a program, e.g., may cause the creation ofcode in the program to access the device, data point, or I/O channel.For example, an icon representing a device, data point and/or I/Ochannel may be associated with or dropped in the source code or userinterface of a program, e.g., the block diagram or front panel of agraphical program. This may cause various operations to be performed, asdescribed below.

[0184] Various other operations using the configuration diagram are alsocontemplated.

[0185] The term “associate” used herein generally means or includes sometype of user input that is provided to indicate that one icon should beassociated with another icon. Each icon may be a device icon, programicon, a link (link icon) displayed between device icons and/or programicons, a data point icon, an I/O channel icon, or another icon thatrepresents an element in the system. The term “associate” includesvarious types of graphical techniques, such as drag and drop techniques,and use of graphical user interface elements, such as menus, dialogboxes, etc. The term “associate” also encompasses the use of speechrecognition techniques to indicate that one icon should be associatedwith another icon.

[0186] The “association” may indicate that some relationship should beestablished between the two icons (a relationship between programsand/or devices represented by the icons, e.g., an invocation orcaller/callee relationship, etc.), or that some operation should beperformed (e.g., deployment of a program, creation or modification of aprogram, etc.).

[0187] As noted above, the operation of associating icons with othericons, e.g., associating program icons with device icons (or otherprogram icons), in the configuration diagram may be performed with “dragand drop” techniques, menu-based techniques, dialog box techniques,speech recognition techniques, or other techniques. The “drag and drop”method may comprise the user selecting an icon (device icon, programicon, link icon, etc.) with a pointing device (e.g., a mouse) anddragging the icon on the display to be on top of or proximate to anothericon, such as another device icon, program icon, or link icon. Drag anddrop techniques are well known in the art. Other similar graphical inputtechniques may also be used.

[0188] As one example, the operation of associating program icons withdevice icons in the configuration diagram may operate to deploy, orcause to be deployed, the respective programs on the various deviceswhich correspond to the device icons. Stated another way, if the userselects a first program icon and associates (e.g., drags and drops) thisfirst program icon on to a first device icon which represents a firstdevice, and the user optionally selects “apply”, this operates to deploya first program corresponding to that first program icon on to the firstdevice which corresponds to that first device icon. The “drag and drop”method may comprise the user selecting the first program icon with apointing device (e.g., a mouse) and dragging the first program icon onthe display to be on top of or proximate to the first device icon. Thisprovides a greatly simplified mechanism for deploying programs onvarious devices in a distributed system. Further details of thedeployment of programs on various devices is described with respect tothe flowcharts of FIGS. 9-12 and the screen shots of FIGS. 15-20.

[0189] In step 210 the configuration diagram may be updated as the userperforms iconic operations, such as the deployment operations discussedabove. Thus the configuration diagram may display an updated iconicrelationship view of the distributed programs and distributed devices asthe user associates (e.g., drags and drops) the program icons on thedevice icons, the program icons on other program icons, the device iconson other device icons, etc. For example, as the user drags and dropsprogram icons (e.g., from the configuration diagram) on to variousdevice icons on the configuration diagram in step 208, the system mayoperate to display the updated relationship (e.g., hierarchy) ofprograms proximate to, e.g., underneath, the respective device icon towhere they have been deployed. For example, FIGS. 15-20 illustrate aconfiguration diagram which shows a main graphical program 402 and foursub-graphical programs 404A-D at the next level of the hierarchy.

[0190] In one embodiment, when the user associates program icons withvarious device icons contained in the configuration diagram, theconfiguration diagram is immediately updated accordingly, but thisoperation of associating does not operate to deploy programs at thattime. Rather, the user may be required to select an “apply” feature forthe deployment to actually occur. This allows the user to view variousconfiguration diagram options before a deployment actually occurs. Inanother embodiment, the system may provide a configuration diagrampreview window where the user can view proposed changes to theconfiguration diagram prior to these changes being made in the actualconfiguration diagram. In another embodiment, the configuration diagram(and/or the preview window) may support multiple levels of undo/redo,thereby allowing the user to “back out” changes that have been made.

[0191]FIG. 7—Creating a Configuration Diagram

[0192]FIG. 7 is a flowchart diagram illustrating an exemplary embodimentof operation of creation or assembly of a configuration diagramrepresenting a system.

[0193] As shown in FIG. 7, a developer or user may assemble or create(and/or a software program may create) a configuration diagram whichincludes device icons that represent devices in the distributed system.The configuration diagram may also include program icons that representprograms in the system. The configuration diagram may further includeother icons or elements, such as links displayed between device iconsand/or program icons, icons representing I/O channels, iconsrepresenting data points or tags, and icons representing other elementsin the system, e.g., named configurations (such as named channels) etc.

[0194] Thus, in a distributed system which comprises two or more devicesconnected to each other, such as through a network, a serial or parallelbus, or through wireless means, etc., the user or system may create orassemble a configuration diagram which includes a device icon for eachof the devices present in the system, program icons created for programsresident in the devices, and icons representing I/O channels, datapoints, named configurations etc. The configuration diagram may at leastpartially (or completely) be automatically or programmatically created.For example, the configuration diagram may be created by softwareexecuting on the computer system 82 which is part of the system, or theconfiguration diagram may be created by software executing on a separateserver computer 90 which analyzes the system and generates theconfiguration diagram for the computer system 82.

[0195] In step 222 the computer system 82 may display a graphical userinterface, such as a configuration dialog, which may be useful increating a configuration diagram. An exemplary configuration dialog isshown in FIG. 14. The configuration dialog may have various appearances,and FIG. 14 is an exemplary embodiment. The configuration dialog mayinclude various tabs, may include the ability to discover or manuallyadd new devices, and may visually display the various devices present(or “virtually present”) in the distributed system. The configurationdialog may include the ability to discover or manually add new programs,and may visually display the various program present (or “virtuallypresent”) in the distributed system. The configuration dialog may alsoinclude the ability to discover or manually add I/O channels, datapoints, or other items relevant to the system. In one embodiment wherethe configuration diagram is mostly or completely automatically orprogrammatically created, the configuration dialog may not be displayed.

[0196] In step 224 the computer system 82 may automatically orprogrammatically detect devices coupled to the computer system 82 and/orprograms present in the system. For example, Plug & Play softwareexecuting in the computer system 82 may have previously (such as atsystem boot time) automatically detected Plug & Play devices and/orprograms. Plug & Play software may also be invoked from theconfiguration dialog. Other application programs executing in thecomputer system 82 may also automatically detect devices present in thedistributed system, and may be optionally invoked from the configurationdialog. For example, the Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX)software program from National Instruments may be used to automaticallydetect measurement and automation devices (such as those shown in FIGS.2A, 2B and 3) and/or programs present in the distributed system.Software may also automatically or programmatically detect otherelements in the system, such as I/O channels, data points, namedconfigurations, etc.

[0197] In one embodiment, a server (e.g., server 90) may access thesystem (e.g., computer system 82) over a network and automatically orprogrammatically detect elements in the system, such as devices coupledto the computer system 82, connections between devices, programsresident in the system, program relationships, I/O channels, datapoints, and possibly other elements. For example, a server 90 atNational Instruments may access a user's computer system 82 at a remotelocation and, optionally with the user's permission, detect devices andprograms installed in the user's system and cause a configurationdiagram to be displayed on the display of the user's computer system 82.

[0198] In step 226 the user may manually specify one or more devices,such as undetected devices. Thus, for those devices that were notautomatically detected, the user may be required to manually specifythese devices. In one embodiment, all devices present in the distributedsystem are automatically detected, and thus no manual specification isrequired. In step 226 the user may also manually specify one or moreprograms, such as undetected programs. The user may also manuallyspecify other elements.

[0199] In step 226 the user may also specify one or more non-present or“virtual” devices or programs. Thus, for those devices or programs whichthe user desires to be present in the distributed system, but which arenot actually currently physically present, the user may include a“placeholder” by creating a “virtual device icon” or “virtual programicon” that represents the non-present device or program, respectively.Virtual device icons and/or virtual program icons may also beautomatically or programmatically generated. For example, the user mayprovide input indicating the desired operation of the system representedby the configuration diagram, and the software may automatically displaya virtual device icon or virtual program icon representing a device orprogram, respectively, that the system may require to perform thedesired operation. Thus software may display suggested device or programicons based on the task requirements entered by the user. Virtualdevice/program icons are described further below.

[0200] In step 228 the user may select one or more devices, programs,and/or other elements for the distributed system. In other words, theuser may select one or more devices, programs, and/or other elements tobe not included in the distributed system shown in the configurationdiagram. For those elements (devices, programs, etc.) that are selectedto not be included, corresponding icons (device icons, program icons,etc.) may not appear in the configuration diagram, or may have analtered appearance, e.g., be “grayed out” or may be shown in a separatewindow.

[0201] For example, for those devices that are not selected (or areselected to not be included), corresponding device icons may not appearin the configuration diagram, or may have an altered appearance. Thisfeature may be used in situations where there are devices coupled to thecomputer system 82, but the user does not desire to use these devices atthe present time. Thus the user can choose to deselect these devices sothat corresponding device icons will not appear in the configurationdiagram. This helps to prevent cluttering the configuration diagram withdevice icons corresponding to unused or undesired devices. In analternate embodiment, device icons corresponding to unused or undesireddevices may appear in a separate palette of the configuration diagram sothat they do not clutter the configuration diagram, yet the user isreminded of their presence. In another embodiment, device iconscorresponding to unused or undesired devices may appear in theconfiguration diagram, but these device icons may be “grayed out” orhave a different appearance to indicate they are not being used. In asimilar manner, for programs that are not selected to be included,corresponding program icons may not appear in the configuration diagram,or may have an altered appearance. Non-selected program icons may appearin a separate palette. This also helps to prevent cluttering theconfiguration diagram with program icons corresponding to unused orundesired programs.

[0202] In one embodiment, all detected devices, programs and otherelements are displayed in the configuration diagram, and thus userselection in step 228 may not be performed.

[0203] In step 230 the computer system 82 may display a configurationdiagram including device icons, program icons, and possibly otherelements. In one embodiment, the configuration diagram includes deviceicons corresponding to all detected devices. Alternatively, the computersystem 82 may display the configuration diagram with only the devicesselected in step 228. As described above, the device icons eachpreferably have an appearance that visually indicates the type ofdevice. The configuration diagram may display connections between thevarious device icons to visually indicate how the devices are coupled toeach other. These connections may be automatically displayed, or createdby the user, or both. As described above, the connections displayedbetween the devices may each have an appearance that visually indicatesthe type of connection. The configuration diagram may also includeprogram icons corresponding to programs, as well as other elementsdescribed herein.

[0204] In one embodiment, the configuration diagram may presentdifferent views, such as an entire system view, a subsystem view, anindividual device view, a program relationship view, etc. Thus the usercan select different options to display the configuration diagram withdifferent views or different levels of granularity. Exampleconfiguration diagrams are shown in FIGS. 21A-21D, as well as in otherFigures.

[0205] As noted above, the configuration diagram may include deviceicons that represent the various devices in the distributed system. Eachof the device icons preferably has an appearance which corresponds tothe device it represents. Thus, a computer system 82 may be representedby a device icon that has the appearance of a computer system. In asimilar manner, other device icons may have an appearance which issimilar to the appearance of the device it represents. This allows theviewer to easily view and understand what devices are present in thedistributed system.

[0206] In another embodiment, a program stored on a device mayoptionally be represented by a device icon. This may be desirable wherea certain program performs a “device-like” function. In anotherembodiment, a non-present device may have a device icon (virtual deviceicon), and the functionality of the non-present device may be simulatedby a program executing on the main computer system or another device.

[0207] The configuration diagram may include connections (“connectionicons”) such as lines, that are displayed between the various deviceicons to show the interrelationship or coupling between the respectivedevices. In one embodiment, the connections that are displayed may becontext sensitive to indicate the type of interconnection or interface(e.g., bus type), and/or the type of data or phenomena being providedbetween the devices.

[0208] In a measurement application, the device icons may represent thevarious measurement devices present in the system, such as those shownin FIGS. 2A, 2B and 3. For example, there may be device icons presentfor any one or more of the various measurement or automation devicesshown in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 3. Thus, as one example, where a computersystem is coupled to a PXI chassis that includes a plurality of PXIinstrument cards comprised in the chassis, the configuration diagram mayinclude a device icon which represents the computer system, and a deviceicon which represents each of the respective PXI instruments comprisedin the PXI chassis. The configuration diagram may also optionallyinclude a device icon which represents the PXI chassis, with furtherdevice icons comprised in or proximate to the PXI chassis device iconrepresenting each of the respective PXI instrument cards. As anotherexample, where one or more smart sensors are present in the measurementsystem, device icons may be present which represent each of the varioussmart sensors. In a machine vision application, device icons may bepresent for a host computer system 82, an image acquisition board 134,and a camera 132, which may be a smart camera as desired. Thus, theconfiguration diagram graphically displays a plurality of device iconswhich represent the devices that are present in the system, for whichthe user is desiring to configure or create an application.

[0209] In step 232 the user may manually or automatically arrange thevarious icons on the configuration diagram. For example, theconfiguration diagram may include an “autoarrange” feature whichautomatically arranges the device icons and/or program icons to improvethe appearance of the configuration diagram. The user may also manuallyarrange the device icons and/or program icons on the configurationdiagram as the user desires.

[0210] In one embodiment, one or more of the devices may communicategeographic location information indicating the geographic location ofthe device. For example, where the distributed system includes a firstcomputer system or other device located in Austin, Tex. and a secondcomputer system or other device located in San Jose, Calif., each ofthese devices may communicate their geographic location information. Theuser may optionally select a feature which causes the geographiclocation of each device (or a selected subset of devices) to bedisplayed on the configuration diagram. This enables the user to morereadily understand the distributed system.

[0211] The configuration diagram may include a “device view” that onlyshows interconnected device icons. The configuration diagram may alsoinclude a “program view” that shows program icons. The program view mayshow only program icons, or may show the program icons proximate therespective device icons on which they are stored. As discussed above, insteps 204 and 206 one or more existing or created programs may bedisplayed in a relationship view in the configuration diagram. Theprogram icons may be displayed proximate to (e.g., under) and/orconnected to the device icon on which they are stored or located(deployed). For example, programs that are stored on the main computersystem 82 are displayed proximate to the main computer system deviceicon. Alternatively, as mentioned above, the configuration diagram maysupport a program relationship view that displays only program icons,without device icons. Links may be displayed between the program iconsto indicate invocation (caller/callee) relationships.

[0212] Where the plurality of programs are configured to executeaccording to a specified relationship, the plurality of program iconsmay be displayed on the display according to the specified relationship.The plurality of program icons may thus be displayed to visuallyindicate the specified relationship of the plurality of programs, e.g.,according to their corresponding relationship or program executionhierarchy. FIGS. 15-20 and 21B show a configuration diagram with programicons arranged in a program execution hierarchy.

[0213] As shown in FIG. 8, in one embodiment in step 236 the user mayselect a device icon (e.g., by double clicking or right clicking on thedevice icon). This may cause certain actions to occur, or a menu mayopen with different selections. For example, in step 237 the programicons corresponding to the programs comprised on or deployed on thedevice may be shown. As noted above, the program icons corresponding tothe programs comprised on or deployed on the device may be shownproximate to the respective device icon, e.g., under the device icon,and/or connected to the device icon, as shown in FIGS. 15-20, 21A and21B. Alternatively, the user may select a feature to show the programicons corresponding to all of the device icons. The configurationdiagram may initially also display various program icons that are storedwith each of the various devices.

[0214] As another example, the user may select a device icon in step 236to view various other elements contained in the respective device instep 238, such as I/O channels, data points, named configurations, andprograms stored in or deployed on the device.

[0215] Therefore, in one embodiment, the configuration diagram may beautomatically or programmatically created by the computer system 82based on an automatic detection of devices coupled to the computersystem 82. In another embodiment, the computer system 82 mayautomatically or programmatically create a first portion of theconfiguration diagram for devices that it detects as being coupled to orcomprised in the computer system 82, and the user may optionally createa second portion of the configuration diagram for devices that could notbe detected by the computer system 82 through automatic means, and/orwhich include virtual devices that are not physically present.

[0216] The computer system 82 preferably stores the configurationdiagram, e.g., data structures (which may be referred to asconfiguration data) corresponding to the configuration diagram. Thisconfiguration data may be saved in memory and reloaded on the system 82or on other devices.

[0217] Connecting Device Icons

[0218] In one embodiment, the user can use a wiring tool to connect twodevice icons, similarly to the wiring tool used in LabVIEW. This maycause a connection, e.g., a wire, to appear between the device icons toindicate that the devices are coupled to each other. As noted above,connections between two device icons may also be displayedautomatically. For example, the connections may be automaticallydisplayed between devices based on couplings automatically detectedbetween the devices, or based on a type of material flow automaticallydetected between the devices.

[0219] In one embodiment, the connection that is displayed between twodevice icons is context sensitive. In other words, the connection thatis displayed or created on the display between device icons has acontext or appearance that is associated with one or more of: the typesof devices that are being connected, the type of physical interface(e.g., bus type), and/or the type of data, information and/or materialflow between the devices. Thus the connection that is displayed mayvisually indicate the type of connection or coupling between respectivedevices. The appearance of the connections may comprise one or more ofcolor, thickness or shading to indicate the type of connection.

[0220] In one embodiment, the connections displayed between device iconscorrespond to the type of physical coupling, e.g., bus type, between therespective devices. The type of connection may comprise one or more of anetwork connection, internal bus connection, external parallel busconnection, external serial bus connection (e.g., USB or IEEE 1394) or awireless connection. FIG. 21C illustrates an exemplary configurationdiagram where connections have an appearance that differ among one ormore of color, thickness or shading (differences among color are notshown in the black and white figures provided herein) to visuallyindicate the type of physical connection or coupling between deviceicons corresponding to respective devices. Thus, the system may supportdifferent connection icons corresponding to the above physicalconnection types.

[0221] In a measurement system, where a subset of the device iconscorrespond to measurement devices, a subset of the connectionscorrespond to couplings between the measurement devices, and the subsetof connections each has an appearance to visually indicate a type ofconnection between the respective measurement devices. For example, thetype of connection may comprise a GPIB connection, PXI connection, VXIconnection, or data acquisition connection. In addition, one of thedevices may be a sensor, transducer, or actuator. Where the sensor,transducer, or actuator is an analog device for providing analog data,the corresponding connection may indicate an analog data connectionbetween the analog device and another device.

[0222] For example, where the link icon indicates the type of physicalinterface, when the user connects two device icons representing firstrepresenting first and second devices, the method may examine theinterface type supported by the first and second devices and generate aconnection or link between the two device icons having an appearancecorresponding to the interface type or bus type being used.Alternatively, the user may select a link or connection from a palettebased on the type of devices that the user desires to connect. If theuser selects the wrong link for two or more devices, the system maynotify the user of the error. In another embodiment, at power up systemsoftware may detect couplings between the devices and automaticallydisplay connections between the device icons corresponding to thedetected couplings. The automatically displayed connections may have anappearance to visually indicate the detected type of coupling betweenthe respective devices.

[0223] In one embodiment, one or more of the connections displayedbetween respective device icons have an appearance to visually indicatea type of material flow between the respective devices. For example,where the connection icon or link icon indicates the type of materialflow, or information flow, if the user is connecting a device iconrepresenting a laser to a device icon representing a mirror or otheroptical device, when the user associates the first device icon with thesecond device icon (e.g., by clicking on the first device icon anddragging the cursor to the second device icon to create the connection),the configuration diagram may automatically draw a laser beamconnection, i.e., a connection icon which has the appearance of a laserbeam or optical signal. This visually indicates to the user the type ofdata or signals that are being passed between the devices.Alternatively, in a measurement, automation or simulation application,when the user connects a tank icon representing a tank to, for example,a valve icon representing a valve, the diagram may automatically drawthe connection with the appearance of a pipe to visually indicate to theuser the type of signals, data, material or phenomena that is beingtransferred between the devices. For example, FIG. 21D shows a type ofconfiguration diagram having a temperature sensor and a pressure sensor,and various processing units P1, P2, P3, and P4. As shown, thetemperature, processed temperature, pressure, and pressure value “linkicons” between these elements have different thicknesses, shading,and/or colors to indicate the different material or phenomenon flows. Inone embodiment, one or more of the connections displayed betweenrespective device icons have an appearance to visually indicate a typeof data flow between the respective devices.

[0224] In one embodiment, the configuration diagram is operable toperform type checking of connections between device icons. For example,if the user attempts to connect a PCI device to a USB device, the methodmay determine that the devices are incompatible and generate an errorindication, such as a broken connection. As another example, if the userattempts to connect a tank icon to a laser icon, the configurationdiagram may perform type checking and determine that the two deviceicons are incompatible types that cannot share the same physicalphenomena. However, if the user is connecting a first device icon to asecond device icon to deploy a program or indicate program invocation,then type checking may not be performed, i.e., may be unnecessary.

[0225] Virtual Device Icons

[0226] As described above, the user may create a “virtual device icon”or “virtual program icon” that represents a non-present device orprogram, respectively. Virtual device icons and/or virtual program iconsmay also be automatically or programmatically created. For example,virtual device icons and/or virtual program icons may be automaticallycreated for devices or programs that are purchased by user, wherein thevirtual icons are displayed and used in the configuration diagram untilthe actual device or program is received and installed. For example,where the user purchases a device from a server computer 90, the server90 may provide a virtual device icon to be temporarily displayed in theuser's configuration diagram until the actual device is received andinstalled. In one embodiment, simulation code may be created or used tosimulate operation of the virtual device until the physical device isinstalled.

[0227] In one embodiment, from the user's perspective, programs can bedeployed to virtual devices (a program icon deployed to a virtual deviceicon) just as if the device was physically present. The program is notactually deployed or transferred to a virtual device until thecorresponding physical device is added to the distributed system. Whenthis occurs, the new device may be automatically detected, the newdevice may be correlated with the previously created virtual device, andprograms that have been previously “deployed” to the virtual device bythe user in the configuration diagram may now be physically or actuallydeployed to the real or physical device that has been installed. When aprogram is automatically deployed to a device icon, the configurationdiagram may be animated to visually indicate to the user the deploymentoperation that is occurring to the newly installed device. For example,when a program is automatically deployed from the main computer system82 to a first device, the corresponding program icon may be animated onthe configuration diagram to “flow” from the computer system device iconto the first device icon corresponding to the first device.

[0228] In a similar manner, a virtual program may be deployed to adevice just as if the program was actually installed. For example, avirtual program icon that represents a hardware configuration programmay be deployed to a device that includes a programmable hardwareelement. A virtual program icon may be used in the instance where theactual hardware configuration program is in the process of beingcompiled and is not yet ready for deployment. In one embodiment, theoperation of the hardware configuration program may be simulated bysoftware executing on the computer system until the hardwareconfiguration program has been compiled and deployed.

[0229] In another embodiment, where a user specifies a non-present or“virtual” device, or attempts to deploy a program to a non-present or“virtual” device, the method may optionally use another “present” deviceas a stand-in.

[0230]FIG. 9—Deploying a Program on a Device

[0231]FIG. 9 is a flowchart diagram illustrating operation ofgraphically deploying a program on a device. The method of FIG. 9 can beused to distribute an application among a plurality of devices in adistributed system, wherein the application comprises one or moreprograms. The method executes on a first computer system, such ascomputer system 82, which includes or is coupled to a display fordisplaying the configuration diagram. In one embodiment, theconfiguration diagram may be shown on client computer 82 and the methodmay execute on server computer 90, which displays the configurationdiagram on the client computer 92.

[0232] It presumed that the configuration diagram (or another window)displays one or more program icons, preferably a plurality of programicons, wherein each of the program icons corresponds to at least oneprogram in the application. The configuration diagram also displays oneor more device icons on the display, wherein each device iconcorresponds to a device in the system. Each device may be coupled to thefirst computer system 82 in some manner, or may be a virtual device asdescribed above.

[0233] In step 242 the user associates a first program icon of theplurality of program icons with a device icon in response to user input,wherein the first program icon corresponds to a first program in theapplication. The device icon represents a device in the system. Forexample, the device icon may correspond to a remote device in thedistributed system, i.e., a device other than the main computer system82. In the preferred embodiment, associating the first program icon withthe device icon in response to user input comprises “dragging anddropping” the first program icon on to the device icon. This maycomprise the user selecting a program icon on the display in theconfiguration diagram with a pointing device, such as a mouse, anddragging and dropping the program icon on to a device icon. The conceptof “dragging and dropping” icons is well known in the computer arts. Theuser may also associate the first program icon with the device iconusing speech recognition techniques. For example, the user might say“associate program A with device B” or “deploy program A on device B” tocause the association. Other types of user input to create theassociation are also contemplated.

[0234] The step of associating (e.g., dragging and dropping) the firstprogram icon with the device icon may include receiving further userinput (e.g., a modifier) in step 244 indicating a certain operation. Thetype of operation may include moving the program; copying the program;deploying the program for remote execution (steps 254 and 256); changingthe location of remote execution of a program from a first device to asecond device (FIG. 11) or creating a call or invocation to the program(FIG. 12) without moving the program. The step of associating may alsohave a default mode, e.g., that the first program is to be deployed onto the device for remote execution. Further user input may be providedby the user if a different operation than the default mode is desired.

[0235] This further user input may comprise the user pressing a key onthe keyboard during the drag and drop operation performed in step 242.For example, in one embodiment, when the user drags and drops the firstprogram icon on to the device icon without pressing a key on thekeyboard, the first program corresponding to the first program icon iscopied to the device, but is not deployed for remote execution. When theuser drags and drops the first program icon on to the device icon whilepressing a key on the keyboard (e.g., the ALT key), the first programcorresponding to the first program icon is copied to the device anddeployed for remote execution. In another embodiment, when the userassociates (e.g., drags and drops) the first program icon on to thedevice icon, a dialog box or menu appears which queries the user as tothe type of association the user desires. Speech recognition techniquesmay also be used.

[0236] In step 246 the method may convert the program type of the firstprogram to a different program type supported by the device, ifnecessary. In one embodiment, each program may have a program type, suchas executable, text-based source code (uncompiled), graphical program,hardware configuration file, etc. In one embodiment, the method (e.g.,the computer system 82) may operate to automatically convert programsbetween different device types to ensure that deployed programs workproperly on the devices to which they are deployed. The conversionmethod may involve: determining the first program type of the firstprogram; determining the one or more program types supported by thedevice; determining if the device is incompatible with the first programtype of the first program; and converting the first program to adifferent program type supported by the device if the device isincompatible with the first program type of the first program. Step 246is discussed in greater detail with respect to the flowchart of FIG. 9.The conversion method may also display an error if conversion is notpossible.

[0237] In step 248 the method may load or deploy the first program on tothe device in response to the association performed in step 242. Forexample, the method may transfer or load (e.g., move or copy) theprogram to the specified device for later (or immediate) execution. Thetype of load or deploy operation in step 248 may be performed based onthe input received in step 244. This transfer step may utilize any ofvarious standard bus protocols. Where the source and destination devicesare coupled to the Internet, the transfer may use TCP/IP. Where thesource device is the main computer system 82 and the destination deviceis a USB device coupled to the computer system 82, the transfer may useUSB communication (USB packets).

[0238] In one embodiment, the plurality of programs are configured toexecute according to a specified relationship. For example, theplurality of programs may be configured to execute according to aspecified execution hierarchy. In this embodiment, the first program maybe configured to call one or more other (e.g., lower level) programsaccording to the specified relationship or hierarchy. In this instance,the deploying step 248 comprises deploying the first program and the oneor more other (e.g., lower level) programs on to the device. In otherwords, the respective program selected by the user in step 242 may beloaded in step 248, and all programs beneath the respective program inthe hierarchy may be loaded as well.

[0239] In step 250 the method may display a new program icon proximateto the device icon after the associating step. The new program icon maybe displayed in response to the deploying performed in step 248. The newprogram icon is preferably a copy of, or has the appearance of the firstprogram icon proximate to, or connected to, the device icon. The newprogram icon (e.g., the copy of the first program icon) displayedproximate to, or connected to, the device icon visually indicates thatthe first program is deployed on the device. In another embodiment, themethod may modify the device icon after or in response to the deployingstep 248 or the associating step 242. The modified device icon visuallyindicates that the first program is deployed on the device.

[0240] In one embodiment as noted above, the plurality of programs maybe configured to execute according to a specified relationship (such asa specified execution hierarchy), and the first program may beconfigured to invoke one or more other (e.g., lower level) programsaccording to the specified relationship or hierarchy. In this instance,step 250 comprises displaying the first program icon corresponding tothe first program, as well as program icons corresponding to the one ormore other (e.g., lower level) programs, proximate to the device icon.

[0241] This is illustrated in FIGS. 15-17. For example, FIG. 15illustrates an exemplary configuration diagram including a hierarchy ofprogram icons 402 and 404A-D and a device icon 412. The hierarchy ofprogram icons comprises a main program icon 402 at the top level of theprogram hierarchy and four program icons (“sub-program icons) 404A-D atthe next level of the program hierarchy. When the user associates theprogram icon 402 with the device icon 412 (e.g., drags and drops theprogram icon 402 on to the device icon 412), as shown by the “dottedline” icon in FIG. 16, the resulting configuration diagram appears asshown in FIG. 17. As shown in FIG. 17, the program icon 402, as well asthe lower level program icons 404A-D are copied proximate to (e.g.,under) the device icon labeled “Shah” 412. This visually indicates thatthe entire program hierarchy has been deployed on or copied to thedevice represented by the device icon 412. In another embodiment, theuser can configure the deployment where only the selected program istransferred, and any lower level programs are not transferred.

[0242] In step 252 the method determines if the action being performedis a remote invocation. If the action being performed is simply a copystep, then operation completes, the copy having been performed in step248.

[0243] If the action being performed is a remote invocation asdetermined in step 252, then in step 254 the method may modify theapplication to invoke the first program on the remote device. This maycomprise modifying at least one program in the application to invoke thefirst program on the device. Thus, during execution of the application,the application is operable to invoke the first program on the device,wherein the first program executes on the device. Where the plurality ofprograms are configured to execute according to a specifiedrelationship, and where the first program (e.g., callee program) isinvoked by a second program (e.g., caller program) according to thespecified relationship, step 254 may comprise modifying the secondprogram in the application to invoke the first program on the device. Ifthe action being performed involves associating a program icon from asource device to a destination device to configure remote invocation ofthe program on the destination device from the source device, then atleast one remaining program on the source device (which may be referredto as the caller program) may be modified to invoke the program on thedestination device.

[0244] In step 256 the method may comprise displaying a new icon (e.g.,a modified version of an existing icon) on the display in theconfiguration diagram to represent the invocation being performed. Thisnew icon may visually indicate that the first program is deployed on thedevice and will be executing on the device. In other words, this newicon may visually indicate that the application invokes the firstprogram on the device. For example, the new icon may be displayed inplace of the first program icon. In one embodiment, the new icon is amodified version of the first program icon which visually indicate thatthe first program is deployed on the device and will be executing on thedevice. For example, the modified version of the first program icon maycomprise modifying the first program icon to include the appearance ofthe device icon.

[0245] For example, as noted above, FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplaryconfiguration diagram including a hierarchy of program icons 402 and 404a-d and a device icon 412. The hierarchy of program icons comprises amain program icon 402 at the top level of the program hierarchy and fourprogram icons (“sub-program icons) 404 a-d at the next level of theprogram hierarchy. When the user associates the program icon 404 d withthe device icon 412 (e.g., drags and drops the program icon 404 d on tothe device icon 412), as shown in FIG. 16, for the purpose of deployingthe program remotely, the resulting configuration diagram appears asshown in FIG. 18. As shown in FIG. 18, the program icon 404 d is copiedunder the device icon labeled “Shah” 412. Also the appearance of theoriginal program icon 404 d is changed to include the appearance of thedevice icon 412 resulting in new icon 404 d 1. This visually indicatesthat the program 404 d in the program hierarchy is deployed on thedevice represented by the device icon 412 and will be executing on thedevice.

[0246] After programs have been deployed to the various devices asdesired, the application may be executed, as described with respect toFIG. 13b During execution, a portion of the application may execute onthe main computer system 82, or another device, and the application mayinvoke various programs on various devices in the distributed system.For example, the application on the main computer system 82 executionmay invoke a first program that has been deployed on a remote device.The first program may execute on the device and then either invoke otherdevices or return control to the application on the main computer system82.

[0247]FIG. 10—Converting a Program to a Different Program Type

[0248]FIG. 10 is a flowchart diagram illustrating more detail regardingstep 246 of FIG. 9. FIG. 10 illustrates more detail regarding examiningthe program type of a program being deployed and ensuring that theprogram type is compatible with the device to which it is beingdeployed. As described above, the method of FIG. 10 is performed when auser deploys a program on a device, e.g., when the user drags and dropsa program icon on to a respective device icon. The method of FIG. 10 mayalso be performed in response to other operations preferred by the user,such as an automatic deployment of a program.

[0249] As noted above, the program icon may represent any of varioustypes of programs (“program types”) such as executable (compiled)programs, source code (uncompiled) programs of various types, graphicalprograms, hardware configuration programs (hardware descriptions), etc.The device represented by the device icon may be any of various devicetypes, e.g., may include a processor and memory or may include aprogrammable hardware element.

[0250] In one embodiment, the main computer system 82, which may bedifferent from the source device which currently stores the program andthe destination device to which the program is being deployed, may storeconversion software which examines both the type of the program beingdeployed and the type of device icon to which the software program isbeing deployed. The main computer system 82 may execute this conversionsoftware to automatically convert programs to different types on an asneeded basis, thereby ensuring that the destination device is able toreceive a program having a type that is executable or useable by thedestination device. In another embodiment, one or both of the sourcedevice and the destination device may include conversion software forconverting programs between various types.

[0251] In step 260 the method examines the type of software programbeing deployed, i.e., whether the software program is an executableprogram, uncompiled program, graphical program, software object, etc.The method may also determine more specific information regarding theprogram type. For example, if the software program is an uncompiledprogram, the method may determine the type of source code, e.g., C, C++,Java, etc., to determine the appropriate compiler, if necessary. If thesoftware program is a graphical program, the method may determinewhether the software program is a LabVIEW VI, a Simulink diagram, a VEEdiagram etc. The method may also determine different types of hardwareconfiguration programs or files (hardware descriptions).

[0252] In step 262 the method examines the type of device (“devicetype”) to which the software program is being deployed, i.e., the typeof device represented by the device icon with which the program icon wasassociated. The various types of devices may include devices whichinclude a CPU with memory, a programmable hardware element, such as anFPGA, and/or may include respective types of execution engines orcompilers for different software types.

[0253] If the program icon has been associated (dragged and dropped)with or deployed to another program, i.e., (the destination programicon) the method may examine the destination program icon in step 262.This may be necessary to ensure that the destination programcorresponding to the destination program icon can interoperate with theprogram being deployed. The method may also examine the destinationdevice which includes the destination program.

[0254] In step 264 the method determines whether the device iscompatible with the respective program. For example, if the deviceincludes a CPU and memory and an appropriate operating system and/orexecution software, and the software program is a conventionalexecutable which can be executed by the software currently present onthe device, then the device is determined to be compatible with theprogram. However, as another example, if the program is a softwareprogram such as a compiled executable or source code, and the devicecontains only a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA, then thesoftware program would be determined to be incompatible with the device.As another example, if the program is a graphical program such as aLabVIEW graphical program developed in the LabVIEW program developmentenvironment, and the device is a computer system which does not includethe LabVIEW execution environment or LabVIEW run time system, then thesoftware program would be determined to be incompatible with the device.

[0255] If the device is determined to be compatible with the program instep 264, then in step 248 the program is loaded into the memory of thedevice or configured on to the device for later execution. Thus, if theprogram is a software program and the device includes a processor andmemory medium, the software program can be loaded into the memory mediumof the device for later execution. As another example, if the program isa hardware configuration program or file for configuring a programmablehardware element such as an FPGA, and the device is, for example, asmart sensor which includes an FPGA, loading the program on to thedevice may comprise configuring the FPGA of the device with the hardwareconfiguration program. Step 248 was discussed above with respect to theflowchart of FIG. 8.

[0256] If the device is determined to be incompatible with the programin step 264, then in step 266 the program may be converted into theappropriate format for the device, if possible. As one example, if theprogram is a software program such as an executable (compiled) program,a graphical program, a source code program, etc., and the deviceincludes a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA, the softwareprogram may be programmatically converted into a hardware configurationprogram in step 266. As another example, if a program is a particulartype of program which requires a particular execution engine, such as aLabVIEW graphical program or VI which requires a LabVIEW executionengine, and the destination device does not include the LabVIEWexecution engine, then the LabVIEW graphical program may be convertedinto a text based programming language, e.g., a C program, and thencompiled into executable format in step 266. As yet another example, ifthe program is a hardware configuration file intended for an FPGA orother programmable hardware element, and the device to which the programis being deployed comprises a CPU and memory and does not include aprogrammable hardware element, then the hardware configuration file maybe converted into a software program for execution by the device in step266. As another example, if the program is currently in a source codeformat, an appropriate compiled . . . procedure-based code, objectoriented code . . . .

[0257] In step 248 the converted program is loaded on to the device. Forexample, where the main computer system 82 is the source device, themain computer 82 may execute the conversion program to convert theprogram to the appropriate program type, and transfer the convertedprogram to the destination device. If the main computer system 82 is notthe source device, the program may first be transferred to the maincomputer system 82 for conversion, followed by transferring theconverted program to the destination device.

[0258] It is noted that the operation of converting the program into theappropriate format for the device in step 232 and then loading theconverted program on to the device in step 234 may occur invisibly tothe user. In other words, the user may simply drag and drop the programicon on to the device icon in step 242 and enter other information instep 244. Steps 246, 248, 250, 252, 254 and 256 of FIG. 8 (and the stepsof FIG. 9) may be performed invisibly to the user. Thus, the user maynever know that the program corresponding to the program icon that theuser dragged and dropped on to the device icon was initiallyincompatible with the device, the conversion of the program to theappropriate format in step 246 having been performed invisibly to theuser.

[0259] In another embodiment, if the device is determined to beincompatible with the program in step 264, a dialog may appear alertingthe user as to this incompatibility and asking if the user desires forthe conversion to occur. In some instances there may be a plurality ofappropriate formats or program types for the device. In this instance,the dialog box may request the user to select which format or programtype in to which to convert the program in step 266. Alternatively, theuser may choose to not complete the deployment due to theincompatibility.

[0260] In another embodiment, instead of converting the program to theappropriate type, the method may transfer software, such as an executionengine, to the device to enable the device to execute the program. Forexample, if the program is a graphical program such as a LabVIEWgraphical program developed in LabVIEW, and the device does not includethe LabVIEW execution environment or LabVIEW runtime system, then thecomputer system 82 may transfer the LabVIEW execution engine, e.g.,LabVIEW or LabVIEW RT, to the device.

[0261]FIG. 11—Association of a Program Icon from a Source Device to aDestination Device

[0262]FIG. 11 is a generalized flowchart diagram illustratingassociation of a program icon from a first or source device to a secondor destination device. Stated another way, FIG. 11 illustrates where aprogram icon corresponding to a first or source device icon may beassociated with a second or destination device icon, or a program iconof the destination device icon. The flowchart of FIG. 10 describesoperation where the source device icon may be the main computer system82 or a remote device coupled to the main computer system 82. In asimilar manner, the destination device or second device may be the maincomputer system 82 or a remote device coupled to the main computersystem.

[0263] The flowchart of FIG. 11 is similar to the flowchart of FIG. 9.However, the flowchart of FIG. 11 further includes case 4 describedabove, which involves transferring remote execution of a program from afirst device to a second device, wherein in each case the program isbeing remotely invoked by a third device.

[0264] As shown, in step 242 the user may associate a program icon froma first source device to a second destination device. As described abovewith respect to step 242, this may be performed using iconic drag anddrop techniques.

[0265] In step 244 the user may specify the type of operation. Asdescribed above, this may comprise pressing a selected key on thekeyboard during the drag and drop operation, using a dialog box beforeor after the drag and drop operation, or using speech recognitiontechniques.

[0266] In step 246 the method may convert the program type of the sourceor first program to a different program type supported by thedestination device. As described above with respect to 246 of FIG. 9,where the source and destination devices are both remote devices, thismay involve the main computer system 82 detecting that a conversion isneeded, reading the respective program from the source device,performing the conversion to the new program type, and then sending theconverted program to the destination device in step 248. In anotherembodiment, various devices in the distributed system may include thecapability of performing this program type conversion as desired.

[0267] In step 248 the program may be deployed on the destinationdevice. This may be performed by the source device directly sending theprogram or the converted program to the destination device.Alternatively, the program may be routed through the main computersystem 82, e.g., may be transferred from the source device to the maincomputer system 82 and then to the destination device.

[0268] In step 250 a new program icon may be displayed proximate to thedestination device icon in the configuration diagram to indicate thatthis program has been transferred or copied to the destination device.

[0269] Upon completion of step 250, various different operations may beperformed depending on the type of operation selected by the user. Asshown, if the user has indicated a desire to simply copy the programfrom the source device to the destination device then operationcompletes, the copy operation having been performed in step 248.

[0270] If the user has indicated in step 244 that a remote invocationfrom the first remote device to the second remote device is desired,then in step 254 the method modifies the caller program on the sourcedevice to invoke the callee program (the program that was transferred instep 248) on the destination device. In step 256 the caller program iconis modified on the source device or first device to initially indicatethat the program is being invoked on the second or destination device.This operation is similar or identical to operation in steps 254 and 256of FIG. 9.

[0271] The user may also indicate in step 244 that the user desiresremote invocation of this program from a third device (e.g., the maincomputer system 82) to this program on the second or destination device.In other words, the user may have previously deployed this program onthe source device, and may later decide to instead have the remoteexecution of this program occur on a different device, i.e., thedestination device instead of the source device. Thus, instead of theuser having to move the program icon corresponding to this program backto the main computer system device icon and then to the new destinationdevice where remote execution is desired, the user can simply drag anddrop the program icon for this program from the first or source remotedevice to the second or destination remote device and indicate that theuser desires this program to be called from the main computer system 82and execute on this second destination device. In this instance, in step253 the computer system 82 may determine if it is able to invoke theprogram from the destination device. If so, then in step 254A thecomputer system 82 modifies the application, e.g., one of the programson the application contained on the computer system 82, to invoke theprogram on the second destination device. In step 256A the originalprogram icon, i.e., the caller program icon proximate to the computersystem device icon is modified to visually indicate that the program isnow being invoked on the second or destination remote device and is nolonger being invoked on the first or source remote device.

[0272] As noted above, the user may also associate (e.g., drag and drop)a program icon from a first device icon to a second device icon andindicate that the user desires for a program or application on thesecond device icon to invoke the program corresponding to the programicon being associated on the first icon. In this situation, as shown inFIG. 12, in step 292 a program or application on the second device,e.g., one or more programs in the second device, may be modified toinvoke the program that is stored on the first device. In step 294 themethod may modify the original program icon on the second device tovisually indicate that the program is being invoked on the first device.FIG. 12 is described further below.

[0273]FIG. 12—Association of a Program Icon from a Remote Device to theMain Computer System

[0274]FIG. 12 is a flowchart diagram illustrating association of aprogram icon from a remote device to the device icon for the maincomputer system 82. It is noted that the flowchart of FIG. 12 can alsoapply readily to associating a program icon from a first remote deviceto the device icon of a second remote device.

[0275] In one embodiment, the user can select program icons comprised ona device that is not the main device 82 and associate these programicons with the main device 82 using the drag and drop techniquesdescribed above. The user can select various operations to be performed,as described below. For example, in step 282 the user can select aprogram residing on a remote device and drag and drop the correspondingprogram icon on to the device icon of the main device 82.

[0276] In step 284 the user can select among various options, e.g.,either to 1) move or 2) copy the program to the main computer system 82,3) to deploy the program in the main computer system; 4) to transferexecution from a first device to a second device; or 5) to cause remoteexecution of this program by the programs on the main computer system82. This selection may be performed by providing certain user input,such as holding down a certain key during the drag and drop operation,or through a dialog box, or using speech recognition. Here it ispresumed that the user selects option 5. Options 1, 2 and 3 weredescribed above in FIG. 9 and options 1, 2, 3 and 4 were described abovein FIG. 11.

[0277] If the user selects the option to cause remote execution of thisprogram by the application on the main computer system 82 as determinedin step 286, then steps 292 and 294 are performed. In step 292 theapplication, e.g., one or more programs in the application, may bemodified to invoke the program that is stored on the remote device. Instep 294 the method may modify the original program icon in theapplication to visually indicate that the program is being invoked onthe remote device.

[0278] Thus, in this instance, the program on the remote device is notactually copied to the main device, rather dragging and dropping theprogram on the remote device to the main device icon causes the maindevice icon to include a call to this program on the remote device.Thus, when the main program on the main device executes, a call is madeto this program on the remote device to invoke execution of this programon the remote device during execution of the main application program.

[0279] In step 282 the user can drag the program from the remote deviceto a particular program icon in the hierarchy of program icons displayedon the main device. Thus the user can select which program in thehierarchy of the main device 82 will call this program on the remotedevice. If the user drags a first program icon from the remote device onto a second program icon residing on the main device 82 in this fashion,then in the embodiment of FIG. 12, the second program is configured toplace a call to the first program. Thus, after the second program(corresponding to the second program icon) in the main device 82executes, it places a call to the first program (corresponding to thefirst program icon) on the remote device to invoke execution of thisfirst program on the remote device. If the user desires to specify withfiner granularity where in a respective second program on the maindevice this call should be made, the user may open up the source code ofthe second program and specify the exact location. For example, if theprogram is a graphical program, such as a LabVIEW VI, the user may openthe block diagram of the second program (e.g., by right clicking on theprogram icon in the configuration diagram and selecting this option) andthen further select a particular node where this call is to be made. Inone embodiment, the user may drag and drop the program icon from theremote device on to a particular location (e.g., on to a node or wire)in the diagram to select where this call is to be made. In oneembodiment, when the user drags a program from a remote device to aprogram icon on the main device, and where the program on the maindevice is a graphical program, the graphical program block diagramautomatically appears on the display, allowing the user to easilynavigate and place the call to the program in the calling program.

[0280]FIG. 13A—Possible Operations with Program Icons

[0281] As described above, the system displays the configuration diagramwith an iconic view, preferably an iconic relationship view (e.g.,hierarchy view), of the distributed software programs. The user canselect various options associated with device icons and/or programicons. FIG. 20A illustrates an exemplary screen shot showing a userselecting options (e.g., by right clicking on the icon) from a menuassociated with a program icon. The follow are representative examplesof operations that may be performed with respect to a program icon.

[0282] In step 360 the configuration diagram is displayed with an iconicrelationship view of the distributed programs.

[0283] In step 362 the user can select a program icon associated with adevice icon, e.g., by right clicking on the respective program icon.Alternatively, the user may select a device icon, e.g., by rightclicking on the device icon and then selecting a run option for thedevice icon.

[0284] In step 364 the user can then select a “run” option to beginexecution of the program that has been deployed on to the device. If theuser has selected a device icon, the user can select a run option forthe device icon. This operates to begin execution of the top levelprogram, or all of the programs, that have currently been deployed onthe device. This Run option is shown in FIG. 18.

[0285] In step 368 the user may select an “Open Front Panel” option toview the front panel or user interface of the program deployed on orexecuting on the device. If the program is not currently executing,selection of this option will cause the user interface panel(s) or frontpanel to be displayed for the program. If the program is currentlyexecuting on the device, and the user selects this option to view theuser interface panel, the user interface panel may appear wherein theuser interface panel may show one or more of the inputs and/or outputsof the program being executed. Where the program is executing on aremote device, i.e., a device separate from the computer system, thepanel or user interface information may be transferred to the maincomputer system 82 for display. The data being received by or generatedby the program may be transferred over a bus or network to the maincomputer system 82 where the user interface panel is displayed, and thedata may appear in the user interface panel much like the programsexecuting directly on the main machine. In one embodiment, the user mayalso be able to interactively manipulate input provided to the programusing the user interface panel on the main program, wherein this userinput is received by the main computer system and transferred to thedevice where the program is actually executing. Output produced by theprogram in response to this input may then be transferred back to themain computer system 82 and displayed on the user interface panel thatis being displayed on the display of the main computer system 82. The“Open Front Panel” option is shown in FIG. 20A.

[0286] As shown in step 372, the user may also select an option to causethe program represented by the program icon to halt execution. This mayalso cause all programs below this program in the hierarchy to also haltexecution. Alternatively, the user may select an option for a deviceicon to select a stop or halt menu item, which causes all programsexecuting on the respective device to stop execution.

[0287] In one embodiment, the may also select an option to cause thesource code of the program to be displayed. For example, if the programis a graphical program, then user selection of this option may cause theblock diagram of the graphical program to be displayed. If the programis a text based program, such as a C-language program, then userselection of this option may cause the textual source code of theprogram to be displayed. The user may also select various debuggingfeatures to executing on the program.

[0288] Various other operations are possible. For example, FIG. 20Aillustrates a menu which includes options such as “HighlightConnections”, “Hide All Sub-VIs”, “Show VI Hierachy”, “Show AllSub-VIs”, “Show All Callers”, “Find All Instances”, “Edit Icon”, VIProperties”, “Open Front Panel” (see step 368), “Print Documentation”,“Run” (see step 362), “CloseVI”, and “Remote Call”.

[0289] Selection of the “Remote Call” feature is shown in FIG. 20B. Asshown, selection of the “Remote Call” feature may cause the names ofother program icons or device icons to be displayed in a menu. The usermay then select the name of an icon to configure a remote call orinvocation. A new link may then be displayed in the configurationdiagram to visually indicate this remote call. Alternatively, when theuser selects the “Remote Call” feature, program icons or device iconsthemselves may be highlighted in the diagram. The user may then selectfrom among these icons to configure the remote call.

[0290] In one embodiment, if the user drags and drops a first deviceicon on to a second device icon, this causes all programs stored on thefirst device icon to be copied to or deployed to the second device icon.

[0291] In one embodiment, the configuration diagram may support anapplication icon or project icon, wherein the application icon orproject icon represents one or more programs and possibly otherinformation. For example, the application icon or project icon may alsoinclude or represent information that specifies how the variousprograms, help files, etc. are to be distributed among the variousdevices in a system. The configuration diagram may also support a systemicon, wherein the system icon represents a distributed system comprisinga plurality of devices (wherein each device may have its own deviceicon).

[0292] The user may associate (e.g., drag and drop) the configurationicon or project icon on to a system icon, wherein this causes thevarious programs to be distributed or deployed among the devices in thesystem represented by the system icon. Information represented by theapplication icon may be used in deploying the programs to the variousdevices.

[0293]FIG. 13B

[0294]FIG. 13B illustrates execution of an application. As shown, theuser can select the top level program icon in the relationship orhierarchy and begin execution of the top level program, e.g., by rightclicking on the top level program icon and selecting a “run” feature.Alternatively, the user can select the device icon and select a “run”feature, which causes the top level program to begin execution.

[0295] During execution, a portion of the application may execute on themain computer system 82 in step 382, and the application may invokevarious programs on various devices in the distributed system in step384. For example, the application on the main computer system 82execution may invoke a first program that has been deployed on a remotedevice. The first program may execute on the device and then eitherinvoke other devices or return control to the application on the maincomputer system 82. In another embodiment, the main computer system 82may be used for configuration only, and the application may execute onvarious other devices.

[0296] Where two or more of the programs are configured for concurrentor parallel execution, such as on different devices, selecting the “run”option for the top level program icon and/or the device icon may causethese two or more programs to begin concurrent or parallel execution.

[0297] Installing New Programs

[0298] When a user installs a new program on the main computer system 82or on another device in the distributed system, the new program may beautomatically detected, e.g., by the main computer system 82, and a newprogram icon may be automatically displayed on the configuration diagramdisplayed on the main computer system 82 corresponding to the newprogram. The new program icon may be automatically displayed on theconfiguration diagram proximate to, and/or connected to, the device onwhich the program has been installed. For example, if the new program isinstalled on the first computer system, a new program icon may appearproximate to, and/or connected to, the first computer system device iconon the configuration diagram.

[0299] Example Configuration Dialog for Assembling a ConfigurationDiagram

[0300]FIG. 14 illustrates one embodiment of a configuration dialog forcreating or specifying a configuration diagram. FIG. 14 illustrates aconfiguration dialog or user interface panel which is used for detectingor discovering devices connected within the system. As noted above, thecomputer system 82 may act as the central console of the distributedsystem, and may operate to execute software which displays theconfiguration diagram, as well as the configuration dialog used inconfiguring the configuration diagram.

[0301] The computer system 82 preferably has the ability to discoverdevices, e.g., other computers, smart sensors, FPGA devices, or othertypes of nodes or devices that are comprised and are coupled to thecomputer, e.g., coupled to the computer through a network. The systempreferably discovers or detects devices and adds them to theconfiguration diagram. In one embodiment, one or more of the variousdevices may have the capability to report their presence and device typeto the main computer system 82. For example, various smart sensors maypublish their presence and device type to the main computer system 82.

[0302] In one embodiment, the system also has the ability to createvirtual devices in cases where the actual device is not presentlyavailable, but the device will be present when the system executes theapplication being created. Thus, the user can create a virtual devicefor devices that are not actually present during design time. In oneembodiment, a physical device may be used as a “stand in” device for avirtual device, wherein the program desired to be deployed to thevirtual device instead is deployed to or executes on the “stand in”device until a physical device is installed in the system thatcorresponds to the virtual device. In another embodiment, a softwareprogram may be used to simulate operation of a virtual device, i.e., aphysical device that is not present.

[0303] In one embodiment, as devices or nodes of interest are added tothe user interface panel in FIG. 14, they appear as devices icons orcomputing element icons in the configuration diagram. Thus, when themain computer system 82 is started, devices which are automaticallydetected may immediately and automatically appear as device icons in theconfiguration diagram. As the user later inputs the presence of otherdevices to the configuration dialog, corresponding device icons may alsoautomatically appear in the configuration diagram. When the user orother party couples a new device to the distributed system, the newdevice may be automatically detected, and a new device iconcorresponding to the new device may be automatically displayed on theconfiguration diagram.

[0304] In another embodiment, more advanced wizards may be used tocreate the configuration diagram. In one embodiment, a configurationwizard may execute on a server 90, or on the user's system 82, where theserver 90 also stores a plurality of different programs. Theconfiguration wizard may ask the user a series of questions regardingdesired operation of the system, the hardware devices the user's systemcontains, etc. The configuration wizard may then automatically create aconfiguration diagram for the user and display this configurationdiagram on the user's display. The configuration wizard may alsotransfer the corresponding configuration data to the user's computer 82.This configuration data may be executable to automatically deployprograms on various of the user's hardware devices. Alternatively, theserver 90 may automatically deploy programs on various of the user'shardware devices over a network.

[0305] In one embodiment, the configuration diagram may support a findor discovery tool. The find tool may support various filters that theuser can configure with logical expressions in order to locate variousdevices, programs, I/O channels, data points, etc. For example, the usercan enter the following “find” expressions:

[0306] Find Only FP2000 or Devices with AI

[0307] Find device that has a tag named . . .

[0308] IP starts with 130.164.*

[0309] Add all RT devices on my subnet. Etc

[0310] Find devices on building No 2

[0311] Do not show nodes on Building 1

[0312]FIG. 15—Deploying Programs and Changing Invocation Relationships

[0313] FIGS. 15-19 illustrate embodiments of how programs may bedeployed using a configuration diagram. FIG. 32 illustrates an exampleof deployment of a program to a target device.

[0314]FIG. 15 illustrates a configuration diagram (labeled “hierarchywindow”) which includes a main program icon 412 and four sub-programicons 404A-404D. In this example, the user has added a computer systemon the network into the configuration panel of FIG. 14 wherein the nameof this computer system is “Shah”. Thus, the configuration diagramappears as shown in FIG. 15 with a device icon 412 representing thecomputer system labeled “Shah”.

[0315] As shown in FIG. 16, when the user desires to distribute anapplication among various devices, e.g., to deploy a program on to adevice, the user can select a program icon with a pointing device, anddrag and drop the icon on to a device icon. As shown in FIG. 16, theuser has selected the main program icon 402 and has dragged and droppedthis icon 402 on to the device icon 412. This is represented by the boxoutlined with dashed lines shown in FIG. 16.

[0316] When this operation is completed the main software programcorresponding to the program icon 402 and all of the sub-programs withinthe hierarchy are copied to the destination device. Also, the programicon 402 and all of the sub-program icons 404A-D are copied to appearproximate to (e.g., under) the device icon 412. The configurationdiagram then appears as shown in FIG. 17. Thus, the same applicationhierarchy of program icons 402 and 404A, 404B, 404C and 404D appearbelow the device icon 412, indicating that these programs are nowdeployed on the device represented by device icon 412.

[0317] As described above, in one embodiment when the user drags aprogram icon from the hierarchy of program icons on to a device icon,this may operate to copy the underlying program corresponding to theprogram icon on to the respective device. Thus, for example, theconfiguration window may display a hierarchy of program icons that areresident on the main computer system. If the user selects the top levelprogram from this hierarchy and drags this top level program on to adevice icon corresponding to a different device in the system, thiscauses the various programs corresponding to the main program and allprograms below this main program in the hierarchy to be copied to therespective device. If the user selects a sub-program in the hierarchyresident on the main computer system and copies this over to a device,this causes the sub-program and all sub-programs below this sub-programin the hierarchy to be copied over to the device. Thus, when the userdrags a program icon to a respective device, this causes the programcorresponding to that program icon and all programs below that programicon in the hierarchy to be copied to the respective device.

[0318] In one embodiment, the user may desire to distribute parts of anapplication to different devices in the distributed system fordistributed execution, which also effectively changes the operation ofthe programs contained on the original or source device (e.g., the maincomputer system) that are being executed. For example, assume the userdesires to deploy a sub-program of a main program on to a differentdevice for execution. In one embodiment, the user simply drags theprogram icon corresponding to the sub-program from the main programhierarchy on to the device icon and may further indicate a “deploymentfor remote execution” (such as by holding down the ALT key during thedrag and drop operation). This causes the sub-program to be transferredto the device. This also causes the main program to be automaticallymodified to include a call of the sub-program to the target device towhich the program was deployed. Thus, the high level program in thehierarchy is automatically modified to include a call to the device tocall or invoke execution of this program on the remote or target device.The corresponding configuration window would appear as shown in FIG. 18,wherein the top level program in the program hierarchy has threesub-program icons 404A-404C which are resident on the main machine 82,and an icon 404D1 corresponding to the remote device in the hierarchyindicates that a call is being made to a remote device during execution.

[0319] One example of this operation is as follows. Presume anapplication is measuring the temperature of a tank and is performingcalculations and control as well as logging data values to anon-volatile memory or disk. If the temperature sensor used in theapplication is connected to a different computer system or a differentdevice (device B), then the user may desire to run the program thatmeasures the temperature on that separate or remote device (device B).The user can accomplish this result without requiring manualmodification of the application. The user can simply drag thetemperature program to the different device or machine (device B). Inone embodiment, the user presses the ALT key while dragging and droppingthe sub-program icon on to the remote device. This causes thetemperature program to be downloaded to device B. The top levelapplication, i.e., the program immediately above this program in theprogram hierarchy, is preferably automatically modified to make a callto this temperature program, which is now located on device B. Also, theconfiguration diagram would appear as shown in FIG. 18. Here, the toplevel application is calling the temperature program on the machinereferred to as “SHAH”. It is noted that the user can easily change wherethis remote call is made simply by dragging the program to anotherdevice or by using a pop-up menu.

[0320] Configuring Invocation Relationships Using Link Icons

[0321] In one embodiment, the user may configure an invocationrelationship between two (or more) programs by drawing a link or linkicon between the respective programs. FIGS. 17 and 19A-C illustrateexemplary link icons, it being noted that the link icons may havevarious different appearances. In one embodiment, the link icons havedifferent appearances to visually indicate different types of programrelationships, such as control flow (caller/callee or invocation), dataflow, or event passing or messaging, among others. The link icons mayalso include arrows or other indicia to indicate direction ofinvocation, e.g., which program is the caller program and which programis the callee program.

[0322] The user can thus draw links between program icons to configurean invocation relationship between the respective programs. The user mayalso change the invocation relationship between two (or more) programsby selecting a link or link icon between two programs and manipulatingor changing one or both ends of the link to connect one or moredifferent programs. When the user draws a link icon between two programsor manipulates a link icon to connect different programs, software mayoperate to automatically (or programmatically) configure a respectiveprogram (or programs) to include code to perform the invocation that isdrawn on the display.

[0323] For example, FIG. 17 illustrates a program relationship view ofvarious programs. The program relationship view shows the invocationrelationship or caller/callee relationship between the programs. If theuser no longer desires the program represented by program icon program402 a to invoke or call the program represented by program icon 404 d 2,but instead desires the program 404 a to invoke program 404 d 2, theuser can select the link icon 405 and graphically reconfigure or changethe link icon to be drawn between program icon 404 a and program icon404 d 2. For example, the user may select the end of the link proximateto the program icon 402 a and drag this end of the link with a pointingdevice over to the other program icon 404 a, creating a new link 405 a.After this operation, the configuration diagram would appear as shown inFIG. 19A. As shown, program icon 404 a is now connected by link icon 405a to program icon 404 d 2, and link icon 405 between program icons 402 aand 404 d 2 is no longer displayed. This indicates that the programrepresented by program icon 404 a is configured to call the programrepresented by program icon 404 d 2, instead of the program representedby program icon 402 a being configured to call the program representedby program icon 404 d 2. In response to this user input changing thelink icon to be drawn between program icon 404 a and program icon 404 d2, the program 402 a may be programmatically modified to no longerinvoke program 404 d 2, and the program 404 a may be programmaticallymodified to invoke program 404 d 2.

[0324] If the user had desired both programs represented by programicons 402 a and 404 a to call program 404 d 2, the user could simplydraw a new link between program icon 404 a and program icon 404 d 2. Theresulting diagram would then appear as shown in FIG. 19B. As shown inFIG. 19B, links are displayed between program icons 402 a and 404 d 2 aswell as between program icons 404 a and 404 d 2. In response to thisuser input drawing a new link between program icon 404 a and programicon 404 d 2, program 404 a may be programmatically modified to invokeprogram 404 d 2. In this example, program 402 a is unchanged and hencestill invokes program 404 d 2 as represented in FIG. 19B.

[0325] If in FIG. 17 the user had desired program 402 a to invokeprogram 404 a instead of invoking program 404 d 2, the user can selectthe link icon 405 and graphically reconfigure or change the link icon tobe drawn between program icon 402 a and program icon 404 a. For example,the user may select the end of the link proximate to the program icon404 d 2 and drag this end of the link with a pointing device over to theother program icon 404 a, creating a new link 405 b. After thisoperation, the configuration diagram would appear as shown in FIG. 19C.As shown, program icon 402 a is now connected by link icon 405 b toprogram icon 404 a, and link icon 405 between program icons 402 a and404 d 2 is no longer displayed. This indicates that the programrepresented by program icon 402 a is configured to call the programrepresented by program icon 404 a, instead of the program represented byprogram icon 402 a being configured to call the program represented byprogram icon 404 d 2. In response to this user input changing the linkicon to be drawn between program icon 402 a and program icon 404 a, theprogram 402 a may be programmatically modified to: 1) no longer invokeprogram 404 d 2 and 2) invoke program 404 a.

[0326] Use of the Configuration Diagram with Graphical Programs

[0327] Where a program icon on the configuration diagram corresponds toa graphical program, the user may perform various additional operations.Since the graphical program is itself an iconic program, the user isable to graphically specify particular locations in the graphicalprogram or invocation to occur. For example, if the user desires tochoose a specific location in the graphical program to have a call madeto a remote device, this may be performed graphically within thegraphical program. In other words, if the user desires to choose aparticular function node in the graphical program to make a call orinvoke a program on a remote device (e.g., different computer), or ifthe user desires to have one or more nodes or sub-programs in thegraphical program execute on a remote device, this may be easilyperformed using the block diagram of the graphical program. The user mayfurther incorporate device icons or program icons directly into agraphical program using the graphical association techniques describedherein.

[0328] Creation of a Graphical Program

[0329] A graphical program may be created on the computer system 82 (oron a different computer system). The graphical program may be created orassembled by the user arranging on a display a plurality of nodes oricons and then interconnecting the nodes to create the graphicalprogram. In response to the user assembling the graphical program, datastructures may be created and stored which represent the graphicalprogram. The nodes may be interconnected in one or more of a data flow,control flow, or execution flow format. The graphical program may thuscomprise a plurality of interconnected nodes or icons which visuallyindicate the functionality of the program. As noted above, the graphicalprogram may comprise a block diagram and may also include a userinterface portion or front panel portion. Where the graphical programincludes a user interface portion, the user may assemble the userinterface on the display. As one example, the user may use the LabVIEWgraphical programming development environment to create the graphicalprogram.

[0330] In an alternate embodiment, the graphical program may be createdby the user creating or specifying a prototype, followed by automatic orprogrammatic creation of the graphical program from the prototype. Thisfunctionality is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/595,003 titled “System and Method for Automatically Generating aGraphical Program to Implement a Prototype” and U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/587,682 titled “System and Method for AutomaticallyGenerating a Graphical Program to Perform an Image ProcessingAlgorithm”, which are both hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety as though fully and completely set forth herein. The graphicalprogram may be created in other manners, either by the user orprogrammatically, as desired. The graphical program may implement ameasurement function that is desired to be performed by an instrument ormeasurement device. The graphical program may also implement anautomation function (including process control), a simulation function,or any other type of function

[0331]FIG. 22—Creating the Graphical Program

[0332]FIG. 22 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment of amethod for creating a graphical program operable to receive and respondto user interface events. It is noted that steps in the followingflowcharts may occur concurrently or in different orders than thatshown.

[0333] In step 602, a graphical user interface or front panel for thegraphical program may be created, e.g., in response to user input. Thegraphical user interface may be created in any of various ways, e.g.,depending on the graphical programming development environment used.

[0334] In step 604, a block diagram for the graphical program may becreated. The block diagram may be created in or using any graphicalprogramming development environment, such as LabVIEW, Simulink, VEE, oranother graphical programming development environment. The block diagrammay be created in response to direct user input, e.g., the user maycreate the block diagram by placing or “dragging and dropping” icons ornodes on the display and interconnecting the nodes in a desired fashion.Alternatively, the block diagram may be programmatically created from aprogram specification. The plurality of nodes in the block diagram maybe interconnected to visually indicate functionality of the graphicalprogram. The block diagram may have one or more of data flow, controlflow, and/or execution flow representations. The block diagram may haveone or more nodes which represent sub-graphical programs (e.g.,sub-VIs), and thus may be hierarchical. An exemplary block diagram isshown in FIGS. 24 and 24B.

[0335] It is noted that the graphical user interface and the blockdiagram may be created separately or together, in various orders, or inan interleaved manner. In one embodiment, the user interface elements inthe graphical user interface or front panel may be specified or created,and terminals corresponding to the user interface elements may appear inthe block diagram in response. For example, when the user places userinterface elements in the graphical user interface or front panel,corresponding terminals may appear in the block diagram as nodes thatmay be connected to other nodes in the block diagram, e.g., to provideinput to and/or display output from other nodes in the block diagram. Inanother embodiment, the user interface elements may be created inresponse to the block diagram. For example, the user may create theblock diagram, wherein the block diagram includes terminal icons ornodes that indicate respective user interface elements. The graphicaluser interface or front panel may then be automatically (or manually)created based on the terminal icons or nodes in the block diagram. Asanother example, the graphical user interface elements may be comprisedin the diagram.

[0336] In step 606, the graphical program may be stored on or deployedto a device, and in step 608 a corresponding graphical program icon mayappear in the configuration diagram

[0337] The graphical program may then be deployed to various otherdevice using the graphical deployment techniques described herein, ormay be executed as described herein. The graphical program may beexecuted on any of the various devices present in the distributedsystem.

[0338]FIG. 23—Configuring a Graphical Program Node for Remote Execution

[0339]FIG. 23 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment ofoperation of configuring a graphical program node for remote execution.The method of FIG. 23 may be used for deploying nodes of a graphicalprogram to various different devices for remote execution.

[0340] As shown, where the program is a graphical program, such as aLabVIEW VI, the user can display the main block diagram of the graphicalprogram (LabVIEW VI) in step 502.

[0341] In step 504 the user can select a node in the graphical program,e.g., a subprogram or sub-VI node, a primitive node, or other type ofnode. The user may also be able to select a group of nodes by drawing a“box” around the desired nodes. The user may select a node by using apointing device or by other means.

[0342] In step 506 the user may then select among the various devices inthe configuration diagram, e.g., other computer systems or devices onwhich the user desires to have this node or sub-VI execute. For example,where the graphical program is stored on a first device, the user mayselect a second device icon corresponding to a second device andgraphically associate the node with the second device icon. The term“remote device” in this context simply means a different device than theone which currently stores the graphical program. This selection may beperformed in the same manner as an association, e.g., by using drag anddrop techniques, menus, dialog boxes, or speech recognition, among othermethods.

[0343] For example, FIG. 24A illustrates a block diagram of a LabVIEWgraphical program or VI wherein the user has selected a menu of a node,e.g., by right clicking on the node, and has selected a remote callfeature from the menu. When the user selects the remote call feature, alist of devices may appear for the user to select. User selection of adevice from this menu may cause deployment of the respective node (e.g.,deployment of the functionality represented by the node icon) to theselected device. Alternatively, the user may drag and drop a graphicalprogram node from the block diagram on to a device icon representinganother device to deploy the graphical program node onto the device forremote execution. For example, the user can select one or more nodes inthe graphical program and “drag and drop” them onto a device icon todeploy these nodes onto the respective remote device.

[0344] In step 508 the functionality of the node (or nodes) may bedeployed to the selected remote device, i.e., the device selected instep 506. In step 508 the functionality (e.g., program instructionsand/or data structures) of the node (or nodes) may be automaticallytransferred to the selected remote device based on the user input instep 506. In other words, each node in a graphical program may haveassociated program instructions and/or data structures, and these may beautomatically transferred to the selected remote device. As noted above,the user input may comprise selecting a remote device in step 506 from amenu, or may comprise graphically associating or dragging and droppingthe node onto a device icon of a device in the configuration diagram.

[0345] This deployment operation in step 508 may also involvedetermining if the device is capable of natively executing graphicalprogramming code. If the device is not capable of executing graphicalprogramming code, the graphical program code corresponding to this nodemay be converted to a DLL, hardware configuration program, or othersoftware format.

[0346] In step 510 a new icon may be displayed in the block diagram tovisually indicate to the user that this node is being remotely executed.The new icon may be a modified node icon which includes at least aportion of the appearance of the original node, as well as an additionalimage portion to indicate the remote execution. For example, FIG. 24Billustrates one example of the block diagram of FIG. 24A after the userhas selected this feature to remotely call this graphical program nodeor VI on a different device. As shown, the icon in the block diagramchanges its appearance to visually indicate to the user that this nodeor sub-program is deployed on a remote device and will execute on theremote device. In another embodiment, the icon in the block diagram doesnot change its appearance to visually indicate remote execution. In thisembodiment, the user may optionally select a certain view of the blockdiagram to highlight respective nodes that are configured for remoteexecution.

[0347] In step 512 the graphical program may be modified to be able toinvoke the node on the remote device. In other words, the graphicalprogram may include program instructions and/or data structures, andthese may be modified, e.g., new program instructions and/or datastructures may be added, to invoke the node on the remote device duringgraphical program execution. Alternatively, the graphical programexecution engine (the software that executes the graphical program) maybe modified to implement this remote invocation. Graphical code in thegraphical program may also be modified (or added) in the graphicalprogram to invoke the node on the remote device. For example, one ormore nodes may be added or modified in the graphical program (e.g., asdescribed in step 510) to visually indicate that the invocation isoccurring, and that the respective node is being invoked on the remotedevice. Added nodes may include associated program instructions and/ordata structures that are executable to invoke the node on the remotedevice.

[0348] Thus this remote call feature can be used to cause a selectednode or program, e.g., the selected sub-VI, to execute on a differentdevice or computer system, wherein the main graphical program or main VIcalls this sub-VI to execute on the remote device.

[0349] The deployment of a sub-program of a graphical program blockdiagram on a remote device is particularly useful where there aremultiple instances of the same subprogram in the main graphical program,and the user desires to select a particular subprogram for deployment.

[0350] Therefore, the user can configure a graphical program node forremote execution. Where the program is a graphical program, such as aLabVIEW VI, the user can display the main block diagram of the graphicalprogram. The user can select nodes in the graphical program andassociate, e.g., drag and drop, these graphical program nodes to deviceicons in the configuration diagram. As a result, the functionality ofthe nodes may be deployed to the selected remote devices. This providesa very simple mechanism for a user to distribute execution of agraphical program among a plurality of different devices in a system.

[0351] In one embodiment, the user may graphically configure or deployportions of any of various types of programs, including programs writtenin text-based and graphical programming languages. The method mayinvolve displaying source code of a program on the display of thecomputer system. The program may be written in a text-based programminglanguage, or may be a graphical program. The computer system display mayalso include a configuration diagram that displays a first device iconthat corresponds to a first device and a second device icon thatcorresponds to a second device. The program may be stored on the firstdevice. The user may then select a portion of the source code of theprogram and graphically associate the portion of the source code withthe second device icon.

[0352] Where the program is written in a text-based programminglanguage, the user may highlight the desired source code portion (e.g.,highlight the C code portion, such as a subroutine) and associate, e.g.,drag and drop, this code portion onto the second device icon. Thus, theuser can deploy portions of the source code onto devices other than thedevice on which the program is stored. Where the program is written in agraphical programming language, as described above, the user may selectone or more nodes in the graphical program and drag and drop them on thesecond device icon, e.g., or various device icons.

[0353] This graphical association may cause deployment of the sourcecode portion onto the second device for execution on the second device.In addition, the system may modify the program to configure the programto invoke execution of the source code portion on the second device.Thus, when the program executes, the program invokes execution of thedeployed source code portion on the second device.

[0354] Alternatively, where the program is written in an object-orientedprogramming language, and the software objects are represented by icons,the user may associate or drag and drop the various software objecticons to various device icons to deploy these software objects onvarious devices.

[0355]FIG. 25—Adding Program Code to Another Program

[0356] In one embodiment, the user can manipulate program icons to addprogram code to other programs. For example, the user can select a firstprogram icon or node, which may be associated with a device (e.g. afirst device), and associate this first program icon with (e.g., dragand drop onto) a second program icon of a second device (or of the firstdevice). This may cause the code (source code) of the second program(which corresponds to the second program icon) to be displayed. The usermay then further graphically navigate, e.g., move or drag, the firstprogram icon within the source code of the second program that has beendisplayed and drop or place the first program icon at a respectivelocation in the source code. The first program corresponding to thefirst program icon may be deployed to the second device for executionwithin the second program on the second device. Alternatively, at theuser's option, the first program may remain on the first device, and beconfigured for remote invocation by the second program on the seconddevice.

[0357] In another embodiment, the user may first cause the source codeof the second program (e.g., a block diagram of a graphical program) tobe displayed, and then the user may associate a first program icon with(or into) the displayed source code (e.g., the displayed block diagram).The user may then further graphically navigate the first program iconwithin the displayed source code of the second program and drop or placethe first program icon at a respective location in the source code. Thismay cause the various operations to be performed as mentioned above.

[0358]FIG. 25 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment ofoperation of adding program code to another program. FIG. 25 illustratesan embodiment where the user associates a first program icon with asecond program icon, thereby causing the source code of the secondprogram to be displayed. Many of the operations described below aresimilar where the user associates a first program icon with source codeof a program that is already displayed.

[0359] As shown, in step 522 the user can select a first program icon ornode associated with a device (e.g. a first device) and associate thisfirst program icon with (e.g., drag and drop onto) a second program iconof a second device (or of the first device). As noted above, thisassociation may be performed using any of the techniques describedabove, e.g., by using drag and drop techniques, menus, dialog boxes, orspeech recognition, among other methods. The user may also provideadditional user input (e.g., using the keyboard or a pop-up dialog)indicating that the first program is to be configured as a node in thegraphical program.

[0360] This association may cause the code (e.g., the source code) ofthe second program corresponding to this second program icon toautomatically be displayed. The first program icon (or another nodewhich represents the first program) may be displayed in the displayedsource code of the second program to allow the user to further positionthe first program icon (or other node) at a desired location in thedisplayed source code. In one embodiment, a new node, which mayrepresent an invocation of the first program, may be displayed in thesource code. When the source code is graphical source code, thegraphical program or block diagram may appear, and the program icon (oranother node that is operable to invoke the respective program) may bedisplayed within the graphical program. When the source code is atext-language program, the text language source code may be displayed,and the first program icon may appear within the displayed text languagesource code.

[0361] Thus, where the second program icon corresponds to a graphicalprogram in step 524, this association may cause the block diagramcorresponding to this program icon to automatically be displayed in step532. For example, when the user drags and drops the first program iconproximate to or onto the second program icon, the block diagram thatcorresponds to the second program icon may automatically appear at thelocation of the second program icon (or at a different location). Thefirst program icon (or a new node, possibly having a different iconicappearance) may appear in the displayed block diagram for furtherpositioning or navigation by the user.

[0362] In one embodiment, the first program icon appears in thedisplayed block diagram for further positioning or navigation by theuser. The first program icon may also be configured as a node (referredto as the “first program node”) at this time. Configuring the firstprogram icon as a first program node may simply comprise creating (orstoring) program instructions and or data structures that are associatedwith the first program icon. This configuration is described below instep 536.

[0363] As used herein, the term “first program node” simply connotes anode in the graphical program that is associated with the first programin some way, e.g., is operable or executable in the graphical program toaccess functionality or capabilities of the first program. For example,the first program node may be operable to invoke execution of the firstprogram, read and/or write values from/to the first program, get/setattributes of the first program, transmit/receive events to the firstprogram, programmatically modify the first program, programmaticallydeploy the first program, or perform other functions associated with thefirst program. The first program node preferably has an icon thatappears in the graphical program, and underlying program instructionsand/or data structures that implement the operation of the first programnode. The first program node icon may have the appearance of the firstprogram icon, or another appearance. For example, the first program nodeicon may have an appearance similar to the first program icon, butmodified to include the appearance of the first device icon of the firstdevice on which the first program is executing. The user may also createor select a custom appearance for the first program node, as desired.

[0364] Alternatively, a new node may appear in the graphical program forfurther navigation by the user, wherein the new node is associated withthe first program as described above. The new node may be present in thegraphical program development environment and specifically designed foraccessing functionality of the first program. For example, the new nodemay be specifically designed for accessing functionality of programs ingeneral, or of certain types of programs.

[0365] In step 534 the user may then further graphically navigate, e.g.,move or drag, the first program icon (or “new node”) within the blockdiagram that has been displayed and drop or place the first program icon(or “new node”) at a respective location in the block diagram. Thus,where the second program icon corresponds to a graphical program, theuser may graphically position the first program icon within the blockdiagram of the graphical program. In one embodiment, the user may selecta flow path, such as a data flow wire, in which to position or “drop”the first program icon. The first program icon may then be inserted onto or in the execution or data path of the selected wire in the secondblock diagram of the graphical program and configured to execute. Forexample, when the user selects a data flow path connected between asource node and a destination node, the first program icon may beinserted as a node in the data flow path with an input terminalconnected to an output terminal of the source node and with an outputterminal connected to an input terminal of the destination node. Theinput and output terminals may be automatically created for the firstprogram icon. Where the first program is also a graphical program, thefirst program icon may be inserted as a sub-VI in the second graphicalprogram or block diagram.

[0366] Where the first program icon is dropped or inserted the path of aselected wire in the second graphical program, the method mayautomatically create one or more input terminals and/or one or moreoutput terminals on the first program icon based on at least one of:parameters of the first program and parameters of the graphical program,e.g., parameters of the source and/or destination nodes to which thefirst program icon is being connected. The input terminals and/or outputterminals may be automatically created with the appropriate data typesbased on the preceding and/or subsequent (source and/or destination)nodes in the block diagram to which the first program icon will connect.The method may also involve automatically (or manually) connecting atleast one of the input terminals and/or output terminals of the firstprogram icon to an existing node in the graphical program.

[0367] In step 536 positioning of the first program icon in the sourcecode may cause additional source code, e.g., program instructions/datastructures and/or one or more nodes, to be included in the secondprogram. For example, where the second program icon corresponds to agraphical program, the first program icon may be copied or inserted intothe displayed block diagram at the selected location, effectivelyresulting in a new node (the “first program node”) in the block diagram.This may also cause program instructions and/or data structures to beincluded in the second graphical program which represent functionalityof the first program, or which are operable to call the first program.These program instructions and/or data structures may be associated withthe first program node in the second graphical program. Thus, in oneembodiment, the first program node may comprise an icon having theappearance of the first program icon, and underlying programinstructions and/or data structures that execute the functionality ofthe first program node. The first program node may be created during orafter positioning in step 536, when the first program icon is initiallydisplayed in step 532, or at other times during the method.

[0368] In one embodiment, the program instructions and/or datastructures associated with the first program icon (e.g., comprising apart of the first program node) may be executable to accessfunctionality or capabilities of the first program in some fashion. Forexample, in one embodiment, the program instructions and/or datastructures associated with the first program icon (e.g., comprising apart of the first program node) may be executable to invoke execution ofthe first program on the first device. Thus the graphical program(including the program instructions and/or data structures) may executeon the second device, and when the first program icon node in thegraphical program executes, the first program icon node (or theunderlying program instructions and/or data structures) may operate toinvoke the first program to execute on the first device. In anotherembodiment, the executable code which comprises the first program iconmay be deployed to the device (e.g., the second device) on which thesecond graphical program is located, and the first program icon mayappear as a node (first program node) in the second graphical programand be associated with the executable code. Thus, when the first programnode in the graphical program executes, the first program node (or theunderlying program instructions and/or data structures) may operate toinvoke the first program to execute on the second device. Alternatively,the executable code comprising the first program may itself be the“underlying program instructions and/or data structures” of the firstprogram node. As another example, the program instructions and/or datastructures associated with the first program icon (e.g., comprising apart of the first program node) may be executable to read data from thefirst program, write data to the first program, get/set attributes ofthe first program, modify the first program, or perform other functionsassociated with the first program, as mentioned above.

[0369] In another embodiment, a new node (e.g., a node whose specialpurpose is to invoke execution of programs on other devices) may becreated in the second graphical program that is operable to invoke thefirst program. In this instance, the first program may remain where itis and be remotely accessed or invoked.

[0370] Where the first program is a software object, in one embodimentthe program instructions and/or data structures associated with thefirst program icon may be executable to invoke methods of the softwareobject, get/set properties of the software object, and/orprovide/receive events to/from the software object, or otherwise accessfunctionality of the software object.

[0371] In step 538 the first program corresponding to the first programicon may be deployed to the second device for execution with the blockdiagram on the second device. Alternatively, at the user's option, thefirst program may remain on the first device, and configured for remoteinvocation and execution on the first device by a node (e.g., firstprogram node) in the block diagram executing on the second device.

[0372] As noted above, the first program may not be a graphical program.For example, the first program may be written in a text-basedprogramming language, such as Pascal, Fortran, C, C++, Java, Basic, etc.In one embodiment, the graphical program is created in a first graphicalprogram development environment, and the first program is not present inthe first graphical program development environment. For example, thefirst program may be created in a second program developmentenvironment, wherein the second program development environment isdifferent than the first graphical program development environment. Thefirst program thus may be operable to execute independently of thegraphical program and/or the first program may exist prior to creationof the graphical program.

[0373] As noted above, the first program icon that is being dragged anddropped into the block diagram may be of a different type than thegraphical program, such as a DLL or an executable program compiled froma text based programming language, etc. When the user drags and dropsthis first program icon into the block diagram corresponding to thesecond or destination program icon (e.g., on to a respective dataflowpath) this mismatch in types may be automatically detected (or the usermay manually indicate the mismatch), and a node may be automaticallycreated that is able to invoke or call this type of program. Forexample, if the first program is a DLL, and the user drags the firstprogram icon into a block diagram (e.g., on to a data flow wire of ablock diagram), the graphical program development environment (or othersoftware) may detect that the first program is a DLL, and a node, e.g.,a “DLL node” may be inserted into the block diagram that is configuredto invoke the first program as a DLL. The DLL node may have theappearance of the first program icon. The user may then “wire up” theDLL node, or if the user dropped the first program icon on to arespective data flow wire, the DLL node may appear connected to thewire. As another example, if the first program is a software object, andthe user drags the first program icon into a block diagram, thegraphical program development environment may detect that the firstprogram is a software object, and a node, e.g., an “object node” may beinserted into the block diagram that is configured to invoke methods,get/set attributes, etc, of the first program as a software object.Alternatively, the first program may be programmatically converted intoa graphical code format, e.g., LabVIEW code, and this created graphicalcode may execute natively in the block diagram. As another alternative,a graphical program code “wrapper” may be created around the firstprogram, thus enabling the first program to execute in the graphicalprogram development environment.

[0374] Where the second program icon corresponds to a textualprogramming language based program in step 524, this association maycause the textual source code corresponding to this program icon toautomatically be displayed in step 542.

[0375] In step 544 the user may then further graphically navigate, e.g.,move or drag, the first program icon within the textual source code thathas been displayed and drop or place the first program icon at arespective location in the textual source code.

[0376] In step 546 this may cause a call or invocation (e.g., a functioncall) to the first program to be copied or inserted into the displayedtextual source code of the second program at the selected location. Thetype of call inserted into the displayed textual source code of thesecond program may depend on whether the first program is a graphicalprogram or another type of program.

[0377] In step 548 the first program corresponding to the first programicon may be deployed to the second device for execution with the blockdiagram on the second device. Alternatively, at the user's option, thefirst program may remain on the first device, and configured for remoteinvocation by the textual source code program (after compilation) on thesecond device.

[0378] Thus the user can select a first program icon associated with adevice and associate this first program icon with (e.g., drag and droponto) a second program icon of a different device. Where the secondprogram icon corresponds to a graphical program, this association maycause the block diagram corresponding to the second program icon toautomatically be displayed. In another embodiment, the user may firstcause the graphical program or block diagram to be displayed, and thenmay select a first program icon associated with a device and associatethis first program icon with (e.g., drag and drop into) the displayedgraphical program or block diagram. The user may then furthergraphically navigate, e.g., move or drag, the first program icon withinthe block diagram that has been displayed and drop or place the firstprogram icon at a respective location in the graphical program.

[0379] This may cause different things to happen:

[0380] In response to the association, the first program icon may becopied or inserted into the displayed block diagram at the selectedlocation. The first program corresponding to the first program icon maybe deployed from the first device onto the second device for executionon the second device with the block diagram

[0381] In response to the association, the first program may remain onthe first device and be configured for remote invocation by the blockdiagram on the second device. For example, the user can drag and dropother program icons onto a node icon in the graphical program to specifythat the respective programs are invoked by the graphical program, e.g.,by a specific node in the graphical program.

[0382] If the user drags and drops the first program icon onto a secondprogram icon that corresponds to a graphical program, then that firstprogram icon may be inserted at the appropriate location in thedestination graphical program as a graphical program node, or asub-program or “sub-VI”. For example, the block diagram of thedestination graphical program may appear and the user may then select aflow path, such as a data flow wire, in which to “drop” the firstprogram icon. The first graphical program may then be inserted on to orin the execution or data path of the selected wire in the second blockdiagram of the graphical program and configured to execute. If the firstprogram icon which is being associated (e.g., dragged and dropped) alsocorresponds to a graphical program, then the first program icon may beinserted as a sub-VI.

[0383] The first program icon that is being dragged and dropped into thesource code, e.g., block diagram, may also be of a different type, suchas a DLL or an executable program compiled from a text based programminglanguage, etc. When the user drags and drops this first program iconinto the block diagram corresponding to the destination program icon,and optionally on to a respective dataflow path, a node may beautomatically created, e.g., in the respective dataflow path, that isable to invoke or call this program, or that represents execution ofthis program. For example, if the first program is a DLL, and the userdrags the first program icon on to a data flow wire of a block diagram,a “DLL node” may be inserted into the block diagram that is configuredto invoke the first program as a DLL. Alternatively, the first programmay be programmatically converted into a graphical code format, e.g.,LabVIEW code.

[0384] Where the second program icon corresponds to a textualprogramming language based program, this association may cause thetextual source code corresponding to this program icon to automaticallybe displayed. The user may then further graphically navigate, e.g., moveor drag, the first program icon within the textual source code that hasbeen displayed and drop or place the first program icon at a respectivelocation in the textual source code. This may cause a call or invocation(e.g., a function call or method invocation) to the first program to becopied or inserted into the displayed textual source code of the secondprogram at the selected location. The type of call inserted into thedisplayed textual source code of the second program may depend onwhether the first program is a graphical program or another type ofprogram.

[0385]FIG. 26—Incorporating a Device Icon into a Program

[0386] As mentioned above, the user may associate (e.g., drag and drop)a device icon into the source code of a program, similar to dragging anddropping a program icon into the source code of a program as describedabove. The device may correspond to a first device, and the program maybe stored on a second different device. The following describes thisoperation where the program or source code is a graphical program orblock diagram. However, the description below also applies where theprogram or source code is written in a textual programming language.

[0387] After the association of a device icon with (or into) a blockdiagram or graphical program, the user may then optionally indicate anoperation that is desired with respect to this device in the blockdiagram. For example, the user may drag and drop a device icon of afirst device into a block diagram, wherein this indicates that the blockdiagram should create code and/or data structures, and/or should includea node icon in the diagram, which operates to programmatically accessthis device to publish and/or subscribe data to/from the device. Othertypes of operations are also contemplated.

[0388]FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating operation of creating ormodifying a graphical program by associating device nodes with thegraphical program. For example, the user may use a configuration diagramas described herein to aid in creating (or configuring) a portion or allof a graphical program.

[0389] As shown, in step 642 the graphical program may be displayed onthe display. For example, where the graphical program includes a blockdiagram, the block diagram may be displayed. The user may havepreviously included various nodes or icons in the graphical program andmay have connected various ones of these nodes.

[0390] As described above, the block diagram may automatically bedisplayed in response to an association performed by the user in step644. In other words, the user may drag and drop a device icon onto aprogram icon in the configuration diagram. Where the program iconrepresents a graphical program, this may cause the block diagramcorresponding to the program icon to be automatically displayed. Thedevice icon may then automatically appear in the block diagram forfurther navigation or positioning by the user.

[0391] In step 644 the user may associate (e.g., drag and drop) one ormore device icons into the block diagram. For example, the user mayassociate, e.g., drag and drop a first device icon corresponding to afirst device into the block diagram of a graphical program stored on asecond device. Where the block diagram is already displayed, this maycomprise the user simply selecting a device icon with a mouse anddragging the device icon into the displayed block diagram. As describedabove, where the block diagram is not already displayed, and a programicon is displayed on the configuration diagram that represents thegraphical program or block diagram, the user can select the device iconwith a mouse and drag the device icon proximate to or onto the programicon (or use other graphical association techniques). This may cause thegraphical program or block diagram corresponding to this program icon tobe displayed, with the device icon displayed in the graphical program orblock diagram for further graphical positioning by the user. This mayinstead cause a “new node”, such as a “device access node” to bedisplayed in the block diagram, wherein this “new node” may begraphically positioned by the user.

[0392] In step 646 the user may graphically position the device icon toa desired location in the block diagram. For example, in step 646 theuser may then further graphically navigate, e.g., move or drag, thedevice icon (or “new node”) within the block diagram that has beendisplayed and drop or place the device icon (or “new node”) at arespective location in the block diagram. Thus, where the program iconcorresponds to a graphical program, the user may graphically positionthe device icon (or new node) within the block diagram of the graphicalprogram. In one embodiment, the user may select a flow path, such as adata flow wire, in which to position or “drop” the device icon (or newnode). The device icon (or new node) may then be inserted on to or inthe execution or data path of the selected wire in the second blockdiagram of the graphical program and configured to execute. For example,when the user selects a data flow path connected between a source nodeand a destination node, the device icon may be inserted as a node in thedata flow path with an input terminal connected to an output terminal ofthe source node and with an output terminal connected to an inputterminal of the destination node. The input and output terminals may beautomatically created for the device icon.

[0393] In step 648 the actions performed by the user in steps 644 and646 may cause the automatic creation of nodes in the block diagram topublish and/or subscribe to data from the respective device(s), orperform other functions associated with the devices. Automatic creationof a node in the block diagram may comprise displaying the device iconin the block diagram, and automatically creating program instructionsand/or data structures associated with the device icon which performfunctionality associated with the device, such as accessing (readingand/or writing data values from/to the device). Automatic creation of anode in the block diagram may also comprise displaying a new node (e.g.,“a device access node”), and creating or including program instructionsand/or data structures associated with the new node, that is operable toaccess the device during graphical program execution. Where the new nodehas the appearance of the device icon, then the above two operations maybe similar.

[0394] Thus the automatic creation of node(s) in the block diagram maycomprise automatic creation of program instructions and/or datastructure which perform functionality of the node(s). For example, thedevice icon may appear in the block diagram, and underlying code or datastructures may be created that correspond to the device icon whichoperate to publish and/or subscribe to data from the respectivedevice(s), or perform other functions associated with the devices.

[0395] As one example, the user may configure a measurement applicationby inserting a loop structure, such as a While loop, into a blockdiagram. The user may then drag and drop one or more device icons intothe While loop. The device icons may correspond to various devices whichproduce data, such as sensor or transducer devices, or instrumentdevices. As described above, when a user associates (e.g., drags) adevice icon on to a program icon, and the program icon corresponds to agraphical program, this may cause the block diagram of the graphicalprogram to automatically appear in the display, whereby the user canthen further navigate the device icon at an appropriate location in theblock diagram. Alternatively, if the block diagram window of thegraphical program is already open on the display, such as in a separatewindow, the user may simply drag and drop a device icon from theconfiguration diagram onto the graphical program block diagram.

[0396] When the device icon(s) corresponding to the sensors orinstruments are dropped into the While loop of the block diagram, codeand/or graphical program data structures may be created with respect tothe block diagram that are operable to access these devices, or usethese devices in some way. The device icons which are dragged anddropped into the block diagram may retain the same appearance, i.e., asdevice icons contained in the block diagram. Alternatively, this maycause new nodes to be programmatically created in the diagram which areoperable to access these devices and obtain the data.

[0397] After this operation, the device icons (or other nodes) mayappear within the block diagram, indicating that data is being accessedfrom (or other functions are being performed with respect to) thesedevices. A further visual indication may also be provided as to whetherthese devices are publishing data to the diagram or subscribing to datafrom the diagram, i.e., whether the diagram is subscribing to data fromthese devices, or publishing data to these devices. The While loop mayindicate repetitive operation of the device icon(s) in reading and/orwriting data from/to the respective device(s). FIGS. 27A-E—Example ofIncorporating a Device Icon into a Program

[0398] FIGS. 27A-E are screen shots illustrating a sequence where theuser drags a device icon onto a particular program icon, and inserts thedevice icon into the program represented by the program icon. Theexample described in FIGS. 27A-E applies whether the user isincorporating a device icon or a program icon into the program. In otherwords, although FIGS. 27A-E are described in the context of the userdragging a device icon into the source code of a program, this exampleoperates a similar manner (and in one embodiment in an identical manner)when the user drags a program icon into the source code of a program.

[0399] As shown, FIG. 27A illustrates a first configuration diagram(“bread factory configuration diagram”) which includes two computersystem device icons and an oven controller device icon. The user canassociate or drag-and-drop the oven controller device icon onto aconfiguration diagram icon, another device icon, a program icon, orother icon present in the configuration diagram. As shown in FIG. 27A,the user associates or drags-and-drops the oven controller device icononto a configuration diagram icon, i.e., an icon that represents asecond configuration diagram. In FIG. 27A, the second configurationdiagram is referred to as the “cookie factory configuration diagram”.

[0400] When the user associates or drags and drops the oven controllerdevice icon on the cookie factory configuration diagram, the cookiefactory configuration diagram may be automatically expanded to show oneor more device icons comprised in the configuration diagram. In thescreen shot of FIG. 27B, the cookie factory configuration diagram hasbeen expanded to show two device icons representing computer systemsthat perform manufacturing and packing. These two computer system deviceicons may be connected by a link, as shown.

[0401] As shown in FIG. 27C, the user may further choose to expand themanufacturing computer device icon to reveal another device iconreferred to as “Backing”. For example, the manufacturing device icon maybe expanded in a hierarchical fashion to reveal devices that performmanufacturing functionality. Alternatively, all device icons present inthe configuration diagram may be automatically displayed when theconfiguration diagram is initially expanded in FIG. 27B.

[0402] As shown in FIG. 27D, the user may then choose to view one ormore program icons present in the device icon. As shown, a program iconrelated to oven management (“Oven Mgt”) has been displayed. In oneembodiment, when the user positions the oven controller device icon overthe final device icon in the hierarchy (i.e., there are no furtherdevice icons in the hierarchy, the top level (or all) program icons maybe automatically displayed.

[0403] The user may then select an option to view the programrepresented by this program icon. In one embodiment, when the userpositions a device icon, such as the oven controller device icon, overthe respective program icon, the program (source code and/or userinterface of the program) may be automatically displayed. Alternatively,when the user positions the oven controller device icon over therespective program icon, the user may provide further input to view oneor more aspects of the program (source code and/or user interface of theprogram). In this exemplary embodiment, the program is a graphicalprogram, and a graphical program block diagram is displayed as shown inFIG. 27E. FIG. 27E illustrates a very simple and exemplary graphicalblock diagram which includes a loop structure and includes a singleexisting icon or node. The graphical program may have a larger number ofinterconnected nodes, such as those shown in FIGS. 24A and 24B.

[0404] In one embodiment, when the user associates a device icon with aprogram icon corresponding to a graphical program, and the diagramportion of the graphical program is displayed, the device icon appearsin the diagram portion. In another embodiment, when the user associatesa device icon with a program icon corresponding to the graphicalprogram, and the diagram portion of the graphical program is displayed,a new graphical program node appears in the diagram portion. This newgraphical program node corresponds to the respective device and mayrepresent functionality performed by the device. This graphical programnode may have the same or a different appearance than the device icon towhich it corresponds. The graphical program node may be programmaticallycreated based on information in the device icon, or may be a genericdevice access node for accessing a device.

[0405] Although not shown in FIG. 27E, the user may then choose tonavigate or move the device icon or graphical program node within thegraphical block diagram. For example, the user can position the deviceicon at a certain location in the diagram, which indicates a certaintype of operation. As another example, the user can “wire up” the deviceicon (or the created graphical program node) with other nodes or iconsalready present in the block diagram. In this operation, the graphicalprogram may automatically create terminals on the device icon (or on thecreated graphical program node), possibly based on the terminals of theexisting nodes in the block diagram to which the user is connecting thedevice icon.

[0406] As another example, the user can navigate or move the device iconor node onto an existing wire or connection path and place the deviceicon or node as a graphical program node in this connection path. Forexample, the user can navigate or position the device icon or node to afirst location on a wire in the graphical program after a first node inthe graphical program. The method may then display the device icon ornode as a node connected to an output of the first node in the graphicalprogram. The user can also navigate or position the device icon to afirst location on a wire in the graphical program before a second nodein the graphical program. The method may then display the device icon ornode as a node in the graphical program connected to provide an outputto the second node in the graphical program. As another example, theuser can navigate or position the device icon or node to a wire orconnection path in the diagram between a first node and a second node,and cause the device icon to appear in the diagram as a node connectedin the connection path between the first node and the second node.

[0407] The device icon, or a node that represents the device icon, mayhave various functionality. For example, the node may invokefunctionality of the device represented by the device icon, simulateoperation of the device, invoke programs on the device, acquire datafrom the device, generate data to the device, etc. In one embodiment, aGUI element may appear, such as a menu, and the user can select thefunctionality desired.

[0408] As described above, the method may programmatically create a nodein the diagram which performs an operation associated with the deviceicon. In one embodiment, the device icon is automatically modified, or anew node is automatically created, which includes one or more inputterminals and/or one or more output terminals for connection to othernodes in the diagram. The input terminals and/or output terminals may becreated based on parameters of the respective graphical program (ornodes in the graphical program) or of the device corresponding to thedevice icon. The user may then connect these terminals to other nodes inthe diagram. The respective terminals may also be programmaticallyconnected to other nodes in the diagram. Alternatively, the user maymanually configure terminals for the node, e.g., configure a connectorpane for the node. Type propagation checking may also be performed toensure that incompatible data types are not connected to/from this node.

[0409] Therefore, this embodiment of the present invention allows theuser to associate or drag and drop a device icon onto a respectiveprogram icon. The user can associate a device icon directly onto arespective program icon that is currently displayed, or the user cannavigate through a configuration diagram/device icon/program iconhierarchy to view a desired program icon. The source code of the programmay be displayed, and the user can position the device icon in thesource code. If the respective program icon corresponds to a graphicalprogram, the diagram portion of the graphical program may be displayed,with the respective device icon (or a node corresponding to the deviceicon) displayed in the graphical program diagram. The user may thennavigate or move the device icon (or node) to a desired location in thegraphical program, and optionally wire up or connect the device iconwith other nodes in the graphical program, etc.

[0410] The method described above may also operate where the programrepresented by the program icon is a text based program. For example,when the user associates or drags and drops a device icon onto a programicon that represents a text based program, the text based source code ofthe program may be displayed. The user may then be able to navigate thedevice icon into a particular location into the textual source code.This may cause a function call or other appropriate textual source codeto be inserted at this location in the textual source code.

[0411] In another embodiment, when the user associated or drags anddrops a device icon onto a program icon, the user interface (e.g., frontpanel) of the program may appear. In one embodiment, the user has thechoice of having either the source code or diagram portion of theprogram appear, or the user interface or front panel of the program toappear, or both. Alternatively, the user may open the user interface orfront panel of the program and then drag and drop the device icondirectly to the user interface. The user may navigate the device icon(or node) to an appropriate location in the user interface. Theoperation of associating a device icon with a user interface may cause aGUI element (e.g., a control or indicator) to appear in the userinterface. This operation may also cause a “binding” to occur betweenthe GUI element and data generated by and/or acquired by the respectivedevice.

[0412] The above operations greatly facilitate the creation of graphicalprograms and the distribution of portions of these graphical programs todifferent devices in a distributed system. For example, the user cancreate a graphical program in various manners and then during or afterthe graphical program creation the user can associate (e.g., drag anddrop) icons from within the block diagram to different devices to deployor distribute the functionality represented by these node icons in thediagram on to these respective devices. Also, the user can associatedevice icons into a graphical program, or can associate other programicons for various devices into the graphical program.

[0413] These techniques provide a simple and convenient way for a userto create an application using a graphical program, whereby the user candeploy different programs of the graphical program application todifferent devices, or incorporate functionality associated with otherdevices or programs using device icons or program icons, respectively.

[0414]FIGS. 28A and 28B

[0415]FIGS. 28A and 28B are screen shots illustrating incorporating aprogram icon from a configuration diagram into a graphical program. FIG.28A illustrates a configuration diagram which includes a device icon 802that represents a host computer, and a device icon 804 that represents ameasurement or control device, in this case a Fieldpoint device(referred to as “Engine Controller”) from National InstrumentsCorporation. The device icon 804 includes a number of associated programicons 842-850. In this example the program icons are service icons842-850. The service icons 842-850 include a Start icon 842 for startingthe application program, a Set Engine Params icon 844 for modifying orviewing parameters of the application or device, a Stop icon 846 forstopping the application, an Engine Status icon 848 for checking thestatus of the application or device and a Shut Down icon 850 forshutting down the application or device. Service icons represent a highlevel mechanism for interacting with an application or a device, and aredescribed further below.

[0416]FIG. 28B illustrates an example where the user associates or dragsand drops a program icon (e.g., program icon 846) onto a block diagramof a graphical program. In one embodiment, the program icon 846 may bedragged and dropped into the block diagram, and the program icon doesnot change its appearance during this operation. In another embodiment,when the program icon 846 crosses the border of the block diagram windowduring the drag and drop operation, the program icon 846 may change itsappearance, or a new node icon may be displayed in its place.

[0417] Once the program icon has been “dragged” or positioned in theblock diagram, the user can then wire up this program icon 846 withother nodes in the graphical program. Alternatively, the user can dropor place this program icon 846 onto a wire or link in the graphicalprogram. This may cause the program icon 846 to appear as a node in thegraphical program connected in the path of this wire or link. In oneembodiment, terminals may be automatically added to the program icon,wherein the wire or link connects to these terminals. Thus the programicon may be configured to connect to one or more other nodes in thegraphical program.

[0418] Configuring a Device Icon in a Configuration Diagram

[0419]FIG. 29 illustrates a simple configuration diagram or systempanel. As shown, this exemplary configuration diagram includes a deviceicon 802 which represents a host computer, and a device icon 804 whichrepresents a measurement or control device. In this example, the deviceicon 804 represents a Fieldpoint device from National Instruments, whichmay be used for measurement or control applications. As shown, the usercan select the device icon 804 representing the Fieldpoint device, uponwhich one or more menus may be displayed. The user can select variousoptions from these menus.

[0420] As shown, the user can select the configuration option on a firstmenu. This selection produces a second menu that has items for network,I/O, and data points, e.g., tags. As used herein, the term “data point”includes a data point, I/O point, data tag, I/O channel data values, andother types of data values. The data point may be associated with orgenerated by a device, or may be calculated by a program. When the userselects the network option, the user may receive further options forconfiguring the IP address of the device, or a security aspect of thedevice.

[0421] Although not shown in FIG. 29, when the user selects the I/Oselection, in one embodiment a measurement configuration program, suchas Measurement and Automation Explorer from National Instruments, may beinitiated to configure I/O channels. If I/O channels already exist orhave previously been configured, then these items may be displayed, asshown in FIG. 30. Thus, when the user selects the I/O or tags items inFIG. 29, if physical I/O points had previously been configured, or datapoints or tags had previously been configured, then informationregarding these may be displayed. For example, as shown in FIG. 30, ifthe user selects the I/O menu item, various configured I/O channels maybe illustrated, such as analog input, analog output, or digital I/O. Asalso shown in FIG. 30, if the user selects the tags or data points item,various configured data points may be shown, such as, e.g., pressure,temperature, RPM etc. Thus, as shown in FIG. 30, the system may displayconfigured I/O or configured data points. These items may be displayedin a “tree view”, or other suitable view. The system may also display an“add new” feature which allows the user to add new physical I/O or datapoints directly to the tree structure shown in FIG. 30.

[0422]FIG. 30 also shows an example where a user may select a helpfeature for a device icon. For example, the user may right click on thecontroller1 device icon 804 and select a help feature. The help window“Context Help” may then appear as shown in FIG. 30. The help window mayprovide various information about the device, such as the name of thedevice, security privileges, installed software, IP address, calibrationinformation and other information. The help window may be contextsensitive. Thus, once a help feature has been selected, and a helpwindow appears as shown, the user may move his/her mouse across theconfiguration diagram to view context sensitive help related to otherdevice icons, program icons, or other items displayed. Thus, as the usermoves the mouse onto different device icons, this causes contextsensitive help for that respective device to appear in the help window.Similar operation occurs for other icons, such as program icons.

[0423] As also shown in FIG. 30, the user can select a data point itemand select various options. For example, the user can select an analoginput item (e.g., AI1), which causes a menu to be displayed, from whichthe user can probe the I/O point (data point) or configure properties ofthe I/O point. Another feature of the “tree view” shown in FIG. 30 isthat every individual tree is preferably collapsible. Thus, the user canchoose to see only programs, only data points, only I/O channels, or anentire hierarchical view.

[0424] In large distributed systems, the configuration diagram (orsystem panel) can include a number of different device icons. In oneembodiment, the user can select a particular device icon and cause thisdevice icon to be the only device icon displayed on the screen.Alternatively, the user can select a device icon, causing the deviceicon to be displayed in a separate panel. The user can then expand thedevice icon to view various views (e.g., tree views) of the device icon,such as program icons representing programs stored on the device, datapoints present in the device (such as I/O channels), configuration datasuch as IP address, etc. The user can also use a browse feature tobrowse among or discover new/old devices. The user can further select anoption to add/show new (or un-configured) devices automatically.

[0425]FIG. 31—Deploying a Program to a Device

[0426]FIG. 31 illustrates an example of deploying a program representedby a program icon onto a target device. The example shown in FIG. 31corresponds to the methods described above with respect to FIGS. 15-18.As shown, FIG. 31 illustrates a configuration diagram which includes adevice icon 802 that represents a host computer, and a device icon 804that represents a measurement or control device, in this case aFieldpoint device (referred to as “Controller1”) from NationalInstruments Corporation. As shown, the host computer device icon 802includes a program icon referred to as PID 806, which represents a PIDcontrol program. In this example, the PID program icon 806 represents aPID virtual instrument or VI developed in LabVIEW. As shown, the usercan select the PID program icon 806 and associate (e.g., drag and drop)the PID program icon 806 onto the target device icon 804, i.e., theFieldpoint device icon 804 referred to as Controller1. After the userhas performed this drag and drop operation, the program represented bythe program icon 806 is deployed onto the target device (Controller1).This is graphically illustrated in the configuration diagram whereby thePID program icon 806 a is shown displayed associated with, e.g.,underneath (and possibly connected with), the device icon correspondingto the Fieldpoint device.

[0427] After a program icon has been deployed onto the device, it may bedesirable to run the program or perform various debugging operations. Inone embodiment, the user can select the program icon and start theprogram, or configure the program to start at a selected time. In thecase where the device does not include its own native displaycapability, in one embodiment, debugging operations can be performedusing the display of the host computer system. The display of the hostcomputer system may be used to display debugging operations, such asexecution highlighting, single stepping and other debugging features,for a program that is executing inside the target device.

[0428]FIG. 32—Associating a Data Point (or I/O Channel) with a ProgramFront Panel

[0429]FIG. 32 illustrates an example of a user selecting a data pointitem associated with a device icon (Controller1) and associating ordragging and dropping this data point item onto the user interface orfront panel of a program. Similar operations may be performed when theuser associates a device icon with the user interface or front panel ofa program. In this example, the user has selected the RPM (RevolutionsPer Minute) data point item and has dragged and dropped this data pointitem onto the front panel of a graphical program, such as the frontpanel of a LabVIEW VI. When the user associates or drags and drops adata point item onto the user interface or front panel of a program, inone embodiment, the system may automatically create or display a GUIelement, e.g., an indicator or control, in the user interface or frontpanel that is associated with this data point. This GUI element may be“bound” to the data point. For example, the GUI element may be used tomonitor the value of the data point in a “live” fashion, e.g., the valueof the data point may be displayed in the GUI element in real timeduring program execution. The binding may be accomplished using datasocket technology as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,569 titled “DataSocket System and Method for Accessing Data Sources Using URLs”, whichis hereby incorporated by reference. If the GUI element is a control,the GUI element may be used to control or change the value or parametersof the data point, either statically or dynamically during run-time.This drag and drop operation may thus cause a data binding to be createdbetween the GUI element and the data point. Thus, the user can view thisGUI element to monitor the value of the data point in a “live” fashion,and may optionally adjust the data point value or parameters associatedwith the data point value.

[0430] In one embodiment, when the user associates or drags and drops adata point onto a program front panel or user interface, the systemautomatically creates (e.g., selects an displays) a type of GUI elementthat is appropriate for the type of data represented by the data point.For example, if the data point represents a signal, the system mayautomatically create or display a chart, waveform or graph GUI elementthat is capable of displaying the signal. The range or scale of the GUIelement may also be configured to display the signal appropriately. Asanother example, if the data point represents a Boolean value, thesystem may automatically create a Boolean indicator. In addition, if thedata point is a read-only data point, that the system may create a anindicator for this data point. If the data point is write only, thesystem may create a control for this data point. If the data point isboth readable and writeable, then the system may create both a controland indicator for this item, or a single GUI element that is bothreadable and writeable.

[0431] It is noted that similar operations to those described above maybe performed when the user associates (e.g., drags and drops) an iconrepresenting other types of data points, such as an I/O element orchannel icon (such as AI1) onto a program front panel. Thus, when theuser associates (e.g., drags and drops) an I/O element or channel (suchas AI1) onto a program front panel, a GUI element (e.g., control orindicator) may be created which can be used to display the value of thechannel and/or manipulate the value of the channel. When the userassociates a device icon onto a program user interface or front panel, aGUI element may be created which displays data associated with thedevice, or which can control data associated with the device.

[0432] FIGS. 33A and B—Associating a Data Point (or I/O Channel) with aProgram Block Diagram

[0433]FIG. 33A illustrates an example where the user has selected a datapoint item, such as RPM, and has associated or dragged and dropped thisdata point item onto the block diagram of a graphical program. As shown,this drag and drop operation may cause a graphical program element,e.g., a node 824, to appear in the block diagram that corresponds to thedata point item. The graphical program element 824 may correspond to thedata point icon and may be operable to programmatically access, i.e.,read and/or write values from/to the data point. In other words, thegraphical program element may be operable to read and/or write the datapoint during graphical program execution. This graphical program elementor node 824 may be configured with various functions or properties. Inthe example shown in FIG. 33A, the graphical program element has thecapability to “Log Historical Data” of the data point or “Get Trend” ofthe data.

[0434] As shown in FIG. 33B, the user can then connect this graphicalprogram element with other nodes in the block diagram to affectprogrammatic access, i.e., reading of or writing to, data and/orparameters of this data point. The user can also connect this graphicalprogram element with GUI elements (or a terminal of a GUI element) toenable user access or control of the data point.

[0435] For example, the user can connect the output of a function node(e.g., “Calc RPM 822) in the graphical program to the graphical programelement 824 that represents the RPM data point (the “RPM graphicalprogram element). Thus, during graphical program execution, a functionnode may write a value to the RPM graphical program element 824 thatprogrammatically changes a parameter value or data value of the RPM datapoint. As another example, the user can wire an output of the RPMgraphical program element 824 to another function node (e.g., node 826)so that this other function node 826 can read parameter values or datavalues of this data point. As another example, the user can wire a GUIelement (or the terminal of a GUI element) to the RPM graphical programelement to enable the user to view or modify values associated with thedata point during (or either before or after) program execution.

[0436] In the example of FIG. 33B, the user has wired a “Calc RPM” node822 to an input of the RPM node 824, wherein the Calc RPM node 822operates to calculate the RPM value for the data point and write thiscalculated RPM value to the RPM data point represented by node 824. Theuser has also wired a data logging node 826 to an output of the RPM node824, wherein the data logging node 826 operates to log values of the RPMdata point to a file.

[0437] Thus, as described above with respect to FIGS. 32, 33A and 33B,with a simple drag and drop operation of a data point item onto theblock diagram of a graphical program, a graphical program elementcorresponding to this data point is included in the diagram. The usercan easily configure the graphical program element that corresponds tothis particular data point for programmatic access or user access. Witha simple drag and drop operation of a data point item onto the frontpanel of a graphical program, a GUI element corresponding to this datapoint is included in the front panel. This allows user viewing ormodification of parameters or data of this data point during programexecution. In addition, the same functionality may be used for otheritems associated such as a device icon or program icon, or various typesof data points such as I/O channels, e.g., analog input, analog outputor digital I/O channels.

[0438] The user can of course also drag and drop other items associatedwith device icons into a program, such as the block diagram of agraphical program. For example, as described above, the user can dragand drop program icons for a program stored on a device into the blockdiagram of a graphical program. As another example, a device representedby device icon may include one or more files or configuration data,whereby the user can select a graphical item or icon representing thisfile or configuration data and drag and drop this item onto the blockdiagram (or front panel) of a graphical program. This may also allowprogrammatic access to this file or configuration data.

[0439] It is also noted that the method described in FIGS. 32 and 33 mayalso be used with text based programs rather than graphical programs.For example, the user may drag and drop a data point item (e.g., I/Ochannel item) into a particular location in a C-language program,causing appropriate function call or C programming statements toautomatically be included in the program. These textual programmingstatements may be operable to programmatically read and/or write to thisdata point. The user may also drag and drop a data point item (e.g., I/Ochannel item) into the user interface associated with a text languageprogram, with similar operation as described above for the userinterface of a graphical program.

[0440]FIG. 34—Start Up Application Feature

[0441]FIG. 34 illustrates an example where the user has previouslydeployed a program onto a target device as described above with respectFIG. 31. In FIG. 34, the user has selected the PID program iconassociated with controller1 and has selected a “start up application”feature. When this feature is selected, every time the respective targetdevice is powered on or boots up, the program corresponding to theprogram icon is executed.

[0442]FIG. 35—Service Icons

[0443]FIG. 35 illustrates a device icon which includes a number ofassociated service icons. Service icons represent a high level mechanismfor interacting with an application or a device. As one exemplary use,it may be presumed that a developer desires to create an applicationthat may then be used by other users. In this example, the user maydesire to hide various program icons which represent underlying programfunctionality, and rather only expose certain basic services of theapplication. In FIG. 35, service icons 842-850 are displayed whichcorrespond to starting the application program (842), modifying orviewing parameters of the application or device (844), stopping theapplication (846), checking the status of the application or device(848), or shutting down the application or device (850). Thus, the usercan package up an application and distribute his application to a numberof different users, whereby the receiving users may only view theservice icons 842-850. These service icons 842-850 provide basic highlevel functionality, without exposing the underlying program structure.

[0444]FIG. 36—Copying Device Settings to Other Devices

[0445]FIG. 36 illustrates an example where a user desires to copy thesettings from a first device icon and then optionally “paste” orconfigure the settings onto a second device icon corresponding to asecond device. Here, the user may select or right click on a firstdevice icon (e.g., device icon 804) and select a “Copy settings from”option from a menu. This operates to copy the settings of the respectivedevice corresponding to the first device icon 804. The user may thenselect a second device icon (not shown) corresponding to a second deviceand paste the settings onto that second device. This provides an easymechanism to copy settings among various devices.

[0446] Remote Debugging

[0447] In another embodiment, remote debugging of graphical programblock diagrams may be performed in a distributed system. For example,where a graphical program is deployed on a remote device, the user atthe main computer 82 may be able to select the device icon and/or selecta respective program icon associated with the device and view the blockdiagram of the graphical program. The user may be able to view the blockdiagram on the display of the main computer system, wherein this blockdiagram is actually executing on a remote device. The user may then beable to use various debugging tools that are useful with respect toblock diagrams, such as break points, single stepping, and executionhighlighting.

[0448] The user thus may be able to use the displayed block diagram as agraphical user interface for debugging the block diagram executing onthe remote device. The user can single step through the block diagramexecuting on the remote device using the block diagram GUI displayed onthe main computer system display. Also, as a block diagram executes on aremote device, the user may be able to view the block diagram on themain computer system, wherein the respective nodes in the block diagramdisplayed on the main computer system are highlighted as these nodesexecute on the remote device. The user may also be able to view the dataoutput from each of the respective nodes on the block diagram displayedon the main computer system 82 as the respective nodes produce dataexecuting on the remote device.

[0449] Viewing Front Panels of Graphical Programs

[0450] As mentioned above, the user can select an option on a programicon which represents a program having a corresponding user interface orfront panel, wherein this selected option enables the user to view theuser interface or front panel, either statically or dynamically duringexecution. Thus, where the user has a configuration diagram includingdevice nodes and/or program nodes representing programs distributedthroughout the system, the user may be able to select any program iconin the distributed system and view the corresponding user interface orfront panel of the program as it executes. This provides the user theability to view the status of execution of programs to put on any of thevarious devices present in the system.

[0451] Asynchronous Data Flow Node

[0452] In another embodiment, the user may be able to include anasynchronous data flow node or icon in two or more block diagrams orgraphical programs to allow distributed execution among the two or moreblock diagrams or graphical programs. An asynchronous data flow icon mayinclude two portions which comprise part of the same queue or memory.One portion of the asynchronous data flow icon may be a reader portionand the other portion may be a writer portion. The user may thendistribute the reader and writer portions with different devices ordifferent programs, e.g., using the association techniques describedabove. Thus, a writer portion of the asynchronous dataflow node in afirst block diagram may operate to write data to the queue, and a readerportion of a second different block diagram may operate to read datafrom this queue. These reads and writes may occur asynchronously to eachother. This allows a first block diagram to communicate data to a secondblock diagram, wherein the data may be communicated asynchronously withrespect to the second block diagram. This asynchronous data flow mayalso be configured for bi-directional communication, i.e., with readersand writers in both the first and second block diagrams or graphicalprograms. This asynchronous data flow may be particularly desirablebetween a computer system and a remote device.

[0453] Therefore, with simple graphical tools, the present system helpsa user select and manage a system, such as a measurement system (e.g., adata acquisition system) throughout its complete lifecycle. The toolsdescribed herein allow the user to select and order complete systems,including sensors, signal conditioning, data acquisition, industrialcomputers and software, (including machine vision, motion control,etc.). For example, the configuration diagram displayed on computer 82may be used by a user to aid in ordering devices or programs from anelectronic commerce site presented by server computer 90. The system mayalso operate to ensure that all components are compatible with eachother and that all required parts are order to enable the user to get upand running quickly.

[0454] The present system also may be used to help the user inconnecting his/her system together, providing cabling diagrams to helpunderstand how sensors, signal conditioning and data acquisitionhardware connect together. The present system helps avoid polarityproblems, ground current loops, and missing connections. The system mayeven assist with sensor excitation requirements. One embodiment of theinvention allows the user to design his/her own custom cablinginterfaces.

[0455] In one embodiment, the present system starts with the user'sgraphical system description and automatically configures easy-to-useDAQ Channel Names-with sensor scaling and unit information built in. Aconfiguration program, such as Measurement & Automation Explorer fromNational Instruments Corporation, can verify each of the input andoutput channels-in units or by reading raw voltages.

[0456] The present system may also operate to analyze thequality-of-measurement characteristics of configured devices to help theuser understand and document the overall measurement uncertainty in thesystem using industry-standard formulae and terminology. This informsthe user about the quality of the measurements.

[0457] As the user constructs a system, the graphical tools of thepresent system make it easy for the user to document the system-whetherthe documentation of the system is for the user, or intended to satisfythorough corporate or legislative standards. Asset data can be storedlocally or in a variety of SQL-compatible databases. The user may havecomplete control over the format of generated reports. A number oftemplates are included, such as calibration reports, and financial assetmanagement.

[0458] The present system may also simplify system maintenance. Thesystem may operate to remind the user when devices need to bere-calibrated. The system may even be configured to prevent the userfrom taking measurements with devices that have expired calibrationcertificates.

[0459] The present system may also aid the user in deploying systems asthe user moves from the R&D lab to the production floor. The networkdeployment tools of the present system make it easy to replicate systemconfiguration to one or many destination machines. The system mayoperate to update information about the physical assets connected toeach deployed machine—device serial numbers and calibration data, forexample. The system may also include configuration management tools thatverify that all changes to a system are recorded.

[0460] Therefore, the system offers a number of advantages to the user.The present system allows the user to create a graphical description(configuration diagram) of his/her physical system. The user may operateto select sensors, signal conditioning devices, data acquisitionhardware devices, measurement devices, automation devices, etc. for thesystem being developed.

[0461] Various other features of one embodiment of the invention are asfollows:

[0462] The system does not require hardware to operate.

[0463] The system creates custom DAQ Channels for the user's inputs andoutputs.

[0464] The system verifies that the configuration diagram elements orparts are compatible.

[0465] The system may assists with cabling.

[0466] The user can annotate his diagram with additional free-forminformation.

[0467] The system can examine hardware to further document his system.The system can, for example, query hardware for transducer electronicdata sheets (TEDS), calibration dates, serial numbers, etc. The user cansupply this same data manually.

[0468] The system creates/modifies scaling information for the DAQchannels based on the TEDS.

[0469] The system can help a user produce a virtual TEDS for his sensor.(Physical Metrology).

[0470] The user can generate reports displaying this data. The displayformats are user-definable, and the system ships with several exampletemplates.

[0471] The system can be used a pre-sales tool or an electronic commercetool, including specification and validation of customer orders

[0472] The system can help a user perform end-to-end calibration.

[0473] The system can help a user modify his documentation when a systemis deployed—e.g., re-detect hardware information, step the user throughphysical or end-to-end calibration, etc.

[0474] The system informs the user when calibration is due. The user canconfigure the system to produce warnings or fail to run entirely whencalibration is overdue.

[0475] The system can combine quality-of-measurement information fromthe sensors, conditioning and DAQ boards to produce an overall errorestimate. The system can assist users with expression of measurementuncertainty conforming to a variety of industry and governmentstandards.

[0476] The user can design custom cabling interfaces between DAQhardware and sensors.

[0477] The system handles measurement and automation propertymanagement. The system not only records calibration information, butalso can report on inventory, reliability data, financial records, etc.(Alternatively, the system can interoperate with third-party propertymanagement tools such as Fluke's MET/TRACK or MET/CAL.)

[0478] The system supports configuration management. The system at leastrecords all changes to the system, but perhaps also allows differentlevels of user access. The system may integrate with deployment tools sothat changes due to deployment are handled well.

[0479] Although the embodiments above have been described inconsiderable detail, numerous variations and modifications will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fullyappreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted toembrace all such variations and modifications.

We claim:
 1. A computer-implemented method for configuring programexecution, the method comprising: displaying a first program icon on adisplay of a computer system, wherein the first program icon correspondsto a first program; displaying a second program icon on the display ofthe computer system, wherein the second program icon corresponds to asecond program; displaying a first link icon connecting the firstprogram icon and the second program icon in response to user input,wherein the first link icon visually indicates that the first programcorresponding to the first program icon is configured to invoke thesecond program corresponding to the second program icon.
 2. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: programmatically configuring the firstprogram to invoke the second program in response to the user inputdisplaying the first link icon connecting the first program icon and thesecond program icon.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving the user input, wherein the user input comprises drawing thefirst link icon on the display connecting the first program icon and thesecond program icon.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the user inputfurther comprises user input specifying that the first link iconindicates that the first program is configured to invoke the secondprogram.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying athird program icon on the display of the computer system, wherein thethird program icon corresponds to a third program; changing the firstlink icon to be displayed between the first program icon and the thirdprogram icon in response to user input, wherein said changing visuallyindicates that 1) the first program corresponding to the first programicon is no longer configured to invoke the second program correspondingto the second program icon, and 2) the first program corresponding tothe first program icon is configured to invoke the third programcorresponding to the third program icon.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the first link icon connecting the first program icon and thesecond program icon has a first end proximate to the first program iconand a second end proximate to the second program icon; wherein saidchanging the first link icon comprises dragging the second end of thefirst link icon from the second program icon to the third program iconin response to user input.
 7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:in response to the user input changing the first link icon to bedisplayed between the first program icon and the third program icon,programmatically modifying the first program to: 1) no longer invoke thesecond program; and 2) invoke the third program.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising: displaying a third program icon on the display ofthe computer system, wherein the third program icon corresponds to athird program; changing the first link icon to be displayed between thethird program icon and the second program icon in response to userinput, wherein said changing visually indicates that 1) the firstprogram corresponding to the first program icon is no longer configuredto invoke the second program corresponding to the second program icon,and 2) the third program corresponding to the third program icon isconfigured to invoke the second program corresponding to the secondprogram icon.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first link iconconnecting the first program icon and the second program icon has afirst end proximate to the first program icon and a second end proximateto the second program icon; wherein said changing the first link iconcomprises dragging the first end of the first link icon from the firstprogram icon to the third program icon in response to user input. 10.The method of claim 8, further comprising: in response to the user inputchanging the first link icon to be displayed between the third programicon and the second program icon, programmatically modifying the firstprogram to no longer invoke the second program; and programmaticallymodifying the third program to invoke the second program.
 11. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: displaying a third program icon on thedisplay of the computer system, wherein the third program iconcorresponds to a third program; displaying a second link icon connectingthe first program icon and the third program icon in response to userinput, wherein the second link icon visually indicates that the firstprogram corresponding to the first program icon is configured to invokethe third program corresponding to the third program icon.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, programmatically modifying the first program toinvoke the third program in response to the user input displaying thesecond link icon connecting the first program icon and the third programicon.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first program is stored onthe computer system; wherein the second program is stored on a devicecoupled to the computer system.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst program is stored on a device coupled to the computer system;wherein the second program is stored on the computer system.
 15. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first program is stored on a first devicecoupled to the computer system; and wherein the second program is storedon a second device coupled to the computer system.
 16. Acomputer-implemented method for configuring program execution, themethod comprising: displaying a first program icon on a display of acomputer system, wherein the first program icon corresponds to a firstprogram; displaying a second program icon on the display of the computersystem, wherein the second program icon corresponds to a second program;receiving user input drawing creating a first link icon on the displayconnecting the first program icon and the second program icon;programmatically configuring the first program to invoke the secondprogram in response to the user input; wherein the first link iconvisually indicates that the first program corresponding to the firstprogram icon is configured to invoke the second program corresponding tothe second program icon.
 17. A memory medium comprising programinstructions for configuring program execution, where the programinstructions are executable to implement: displaying a first programicon on a display of a computer system, wherein the first program iconcorresponds to a first program; displaying a second program icon on thedisplay of the computer system, wherein the second program iconcorresponds to a second program; displaying a first link icon connectingthe first program icon and the second program icon in response to userinput, wherein the first link icon visually indicates that the firstprogram corresponding to the first program icon is configured to invokethe second program corresponding to the second program icon.
 18. Thememory medium of claim 17, where the program instructions are furtherexecutable to implement: programmatically configuring the first programto invoke the second program in response to the user input displayingthe first link icon connecting the first program icon and the secondprogram icon.
 19. A system comprising: a computer system, comprising: auser input device; a processor; a memory medium coupled to theprocessor, wherein the memory medium stores a first program; and adisplay coupled to the processor and the memory medium; and a devicecoupled to the computer system, wherein the device stores the secondprogram; wherein the display of the computer system displays a firstprogram icon that corresponds to the first program, wherein the displaydisplays a second program icon that corresponds to the second program,wherein the display also displays a first link icon connecting the firstprogram icon and the second program icon in response to user inputprovided by the user input device, wherein the first link icon visuallyindicates that the first program corresponding to the first program iconis configured to invoke the second program corresponding to the secondprogram icon.